Gal Vihara

Four colossal Buddha images cut from one continuous wall of granite in the 12th century, a seated figure in deep meditation, a standing figure with arms folded in an attitude found nowhere else in Buddhist art, and a 14-metre reclining parinirvana whose face, if you look at the pillow, shows the weight of the head pressing into it. It is the high-water mark of Sinhalese sculpture and worth the trip on its own.