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Sigiriya to be open from dawn till night
The historic Sigiriya rock is to be kept open to the public shortly before dawn and late into nights on Poya days in a bid to attract more visitors under a new proposal by the Central Cultural Fund (CCF), a senior officer said.
The visitors will be allowed from 5.00 a.m. onwards to the rock mainly to catch a glimpse of the sun rise and late into nights on Poya days enabling them to climb the rock with the help of the moon light, the officer explained.
‘There have been requests mainly from foreigners to visit Sigiriya in the early hours and late at nights,’ he said.
The proposal has already been discussed with the Wildlife department in order to take precautions to prevent the presence of elephants before dawn and at nights.
A proposal is also under consideration to have cultural shows at the base of the Sigiriya rock at nights with a lighting system in place.
In a related development the CCF also plans also to provide the opportunity for the public to visit the ancient sites in Polonnaruwa before dawn and late at night enabling the visitors also to follow behaviour patterns of monkeys.
This follows requests made after the nature documentary on monkeys shot in Polonnaruwa.
The film ‘Monkey Kingdom’ released in 2015 is an American nature documentary film directed by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill. The documentary is about a family of monkeys living in the ancient ruins based in the jungles of Polonnaruwa.
A similar proposal is also to be introduced in the ancient city of Anuradhapura.