Skip to content

Cultural · Polonnaruwa · Cultural Triangle

A Stepped Tower in the Quadrangle

Satmahal Prasada — In the Polonnaruwa ancient city

Satmahal Prasada, the stepped brick tower in Polonnaruwa's QuadrangleTHE STEPPED TOWERPhoto by Bernard Gagnon on Wikimedia Commons
In the Polonnaruwa ancient cityPhoto — Bernard Gagnon

Nothing else in Sri Lankan architecture looks like it — a stepped pyramid closer to Southeast Asian temples than to any local stupa.

A seven-tiered stepped brick tower in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, standing at the north end of the sacred Quadrangle. Its ziggurat-like form has no twin elsewhere on the island, and its builders and purpose are still debated.

Location

Loading map…

7.9479° N, 81.0019° ECarto · OSM

Adjacent entries

Polonnaruwa VatadageCultural · 1 kmRankoth VeheraCultural · 1 kmGal ViharayaCultural · 2 km

Explore more