Ruwanweli Maha Saya
— — a white dome the dust cannot dull.
Not only on a wall.
“A white stupa rising above the tank country of Anuradhapura. King Dutugamunu began the work in the second century BC; pilgrims have walked its terrace ever since. The dome is plastered, replastered, kept white. Monks in saffron, children in white, a low murmur of Pali under the bo trees.
Ruwanweli Maha Saya, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Ruwanweli Maha Saya stands in the sacred city of Anuradhapura, the first capital of Sri Lanka, in the dry zone of the north-central province. The stupa was begun by King Dutugamunu around 140 BC after his unification of the island and completed by his brother Saddha Tissa. It rises about 103 metres above its terrace and roughly 90 metres across the dome, ringed by a wall of stone elephants. Anuradhapura was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1982 as part of the Sacred City.
The dome is built of brick over a relic chamber, plastered smooth and repeatedly whitewashed; the surface visible today follows a major restoration completed in 1940 after centuries of jungle reclamation. The base is held by a parapet of nearly four hundred stone elephants carved in low relief. Four small temples face the cardinal directions at the foot of the dome. The summit is crowned by a square harmika and a tapering spire ending in a crystal said to have been set there in the original construction.
The stupa is open to pilgrims and visitors from dawn until well after dark. Shoes are left at the outer gate; shoulders and knees are covered; the white clothing of lay pilgrims is customary, especially on poya, the full-moon days. The site sits about two hundred kilometres north of Colombo and twelve kilometres from the modern town of Anuradhapura New Town. The terrace is hot at midday and best walked early or by lamplight, when the dome glows against the tank country sky.