Abhayagiri Dagoba

Abhayagiri Monastery, Anuradhapura

At three hundred feet tall, the Abhayagiri stupa is the second largest in Sri Lanka (the Jetavana stupa is the largest.) It was built in the early second century A.D., with a major refurbishment in the 12th century. By the 19th century, it had become so neglected and overgrown by vegetation that the first Europeans who saw it believed that it was a hill, not a stupa. In this 2008 photograph, the stupa is scaffolded for restoration, which includes the clearance of vegetation still growing upon the upper reaches of the dome.