Nalanda

Nalanda famous with its Nalanda Gedige is old stone building used as a place of worship both by the Buddhist and the Hindus. Nalanda Gedige was originally built on the center of Sri Lanka, But because of the construction of the Bowatenna tank it had to be moved to its current location, which is about 80 feet away from its original location. It is considered one of the best examples of restoration archeology because almost every part of the old building was moved to the new place. There are stone carvings all over the building and there are some carving that are only found here in Sri Lanka. There are statues of Lord Buddha as well as Hindu gods inside the building, one possible reason being for this is because most Sri Lankan kings married Indian princesses they needed a common place to worship there gods. There is a museum maintained by the Archeological Department where you can get more information about the place. Nalanda Image house is only 1Km from the main road and easily accessible, but it is one of the lesser know and least visited tourist places. There is a conscious effort to raise awareness by putting up signs etc, which will surely lead to more visitors. The Gedige is located in the Kandy-Dambulla road and its about 20km from Dambulla town.