Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura was Sri Lanka's first great capital, established around the 4th century BCE and remaining the centre of political power for well over a thousand years. What survives today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site spread across a wide, largely flat plain of monasteries, reservoirs and enormous brick stupas.

At its centre is the Sri Maha Bodhi, said to have grown from a cutting of the original tree in India under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, brought to the island in the 3rd century BCE. It is among the oldest documented, continuously tended trees in the world, and remains an active site of pilgrimage.

Nearby, the stupas of Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya and Abhayagiri rise out of the plain — Jetavanaramaya in particular was, at the time of its construction, one of the tallest structures anywhere in the ancient world, built entirely of brick.

The Twin Ponds, or Kuttam Pokuna, are a pair of bathing tanks built for monks with a surprisingly sophisticated water-filtration system built into their design, still visible today. The Sri Maha Bodhi has had an unbroken line of guardians tending to it for over two thousand years, making it as much a living tradition as a historical site.