Isurumuniya Stupa through time

Anuradhapura 1928–2020 10 photos of this spot

10 photographs taken at the same spot in Anuradhapura, spanning 1928–2020 — 1 of them from before 1980. Line them up and watch the place change.

The Isurumuniya rock temple at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, photographed in 1928. Carved into granite outcrops, the Buddhist shrine dates back to the third century BCE and is noted for its stone carvings.

Anuradhapura Isurumuniya 1928 The Isurumuniya rock temple at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, photographed in 1928. Carved into granite outcrops, the Buddhist shrine dates back to the third century BCE and is noted for its stone carvings.

Isurumuniya temple 02 2006 Isurumuniya, a rock temple in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, photographed in 2006. Tradition dates its founding to the 3rd century BCE, during the reign of King Devanampiyatissa.

Isurumuniya temple 03 2006 Isurumuniya Temple in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, photographed in 2006, a rock temple with origins dating to the third century BCE, known for its ancient stone carvings.

Temple 2013 Another 2013 photograph of a temple in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, a sacred city whose ancient stupas and Buddhist monuments have drawn pilgrims for centuries, since its time as a royal capital more than a thousand years ago.

Isurumuniya Rock Temple 2015 The Isurumuniya rock temple near Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, photographed in 2015. Built into a rock outcrop, the Buddhist temple dates to the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa in the 3rd century BC, within the ancient sacred city of Anuradhapura.

Isurumuniya Stupa 2018 The Isurumuniya rock temple sits beside the Tissa Wewa reservoir in Anuradhapura, a Buddhist site dating to the 3rd century BCE and known for its rock-cut carvings, including a famous depiction of lovers.

Anura 2019 Anuradhapura, photographed here in 2019, was one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka and is now a UNESCO World Heritage city known for its well-preserved ruins of monasteries, stupas, and reservoirs dating back over two thousand years.

SL Anuradhapura Isurumuniya Temple 2020 The rock-cut Isurumuniya Temple in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka's ancient capital, known for the carvings set into the rock outcrops around its shrine.

SL Anuradhapura Isurumuniya Temple 2020 Another view of Isurumuniya Temple, a Buddhist rock temple in the Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura, one of the island's ancient royal capitals.

SL Anuradhapura Isurumuniya Temple 2020 Isurumuniya Temple in Anuradhapura, carved into the granite outcrops that define this ancient Sri Lankan site near the sacred city's monastic ruins.