Polonnaruwa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sri Lanka’s splendid medieval capital was established as the first city of the land in the 11th Century, A.D. It replaced Anuradhapura, which was plundered, made desolate and laid hopelessly bare to the invading armies from South India.

The ruins of the ancient city stand on the east shore of a large artificial lake, the Topa Wewa Lake, or Parakrama Samudraya (the Sea of Parakrama), built by The second king, King Parakramabahu I (1153-86), whose reign was Polonnaruwa‘s golden age. The third king (King Nisanka Malla, 1187 – 96) didn’t do so well and ended up the kingdom in his attempts.

“Monkey Kingdom” Polonnaruwa has been in the limelight recently with the release of the Disney documentary movie “Monkey Kingdom” in over 12,000 US Cinemas in April 2015. The film documents the life of a troop of wild toque-macaque monkeys locally known as “Rilaw” while the entire set was based around the ancient kingdom of Polonnaruwa.

Polonnaruwa 230 Km from Colombo, 140 Km form kandy, 60 Km from Sigiriya.