Royal Palace

After King Vijayabahu's victory the kingdom was shifting to the more strategic Polonnaruwa is considered significant. As the history books  the real "Hero of Polonnaruwa" is actually Parakramabahu I. The Golden Age of Polonnaruwa was his reign. Trade and agriculture exist under the assistance of the king, who was so hard that drop of water falling from the heavens was to be wasted and each was to be used toward the development of the land. Therefor the irrigation systems that are far superior than Anuradhapura Age were constructed during Parakramabahu's reign. the system supply the water necessary for paddy cultivation during the dry season in the east of the country. The greatest example is Parakrama Samudra (Sea of Parakrama). The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was completely self-sufficient during King Parakramabahu's reign.

This is a majestic palace build by king Parakramabahu I (1153-1186) with seven stories and said to have 1000 chambers. Although the main building possibly couldn’t hold such a number of chambers, when you consider the whole palace complex it is thought that this number is a possibility.

There is massive walls over a meter thick going up to about 30 feet and the bottom half of the main stairway which led to upper floors. Inside the building there is parts of melted brick walls caused by intense heat when this was set fire by Tamil invaders at the end of Polonnaruwa era. Around the main palace there are remains of more buildings where the ministers, solders and servants lived.

Large holes in the wall probably held massive wooden structures that formed the floor of the upper levels. Even after facing such destruction by human hand and then by Mother Nature for 800 years, the plastering on these walls still remains in some places.

An architect’s impression of what it would have looked can be seen at the Polonnaruwa. These construction shows us advance technology which they used in early ages. bricks, fillings and plastering still remains show up the durability method they use. 

by Sam

25-07-2017.