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Early modern · Buddhist · Sri Lanka
Kotte Raja Maha Vihara
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Western Province · 6.8810°, 79.9048°
Gautama Buddha (reclining image; with a Kataragama devalaya)Kingdom of Kotte (Parakramabahu VI); rebuilt 1818Two-chamber image house with makara torana and Kandyan-era frescoes
Sacred since
1415 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
founded 15th c.; re-established 1818
Kingdom of Kotte (Parakramabahu VI); rebuilt 1818
History & significance
The royal temple of the Kotte kingdom, built beside his palace under the patronage of Parakramabahu VI, ruined in the Dutch period and re-established in 1818 after the site was rediscovered. Its two-chambered image house holds a reclining Buddha under Kandyan-era murals, and part of the old Kataragama devalaya survives alongside the stupa.