Gangarama Temple

The beautiful Gangarama Temple is famous for its imposing buildings, and is complete with a chetiya, bo tree, image house, Simamalaka, relic chamber containing the relics of the Buddha and Arahat Seevali, museum, library, pirivena, and residential, education and alms halls. It is decorated with stone carvings, brass work and many other forms of Buddhist art. It contains row upon row of Buddha statues in the meditating pose, alongside miniature stupas arranged like a staircase.

As one enters the temple, one will see a huge mural on the wall depicting the ‘Atalo Dahama’ (the eight vicissitudes of life) – gain and loss, good repute and ill repute, praise and censure, and pain and pleasure – to give the message that one shouldn’t be disturbed by these.