Sigiriya started life as a volcano. The volcano is long gone, but the hard plug of stone in its centre stayed behind. Wind and rain ate the softer rock around it away, leaving this giant red boulder standing on its own.
Around 1,500 years ago, the king ordered a palace, gardens, and pools to be built on the very top. To get up, people had to walk through a stone gateway shaped like a giant lion. The lion's body has worn away over the centuries, but its enormous brick paws are still there at the foot of the final climb.
Halfway up there is a long, smooth wall painted with bright pictures of women carrying flowers. These paintings are called the 'Sigiriya frescoes'. They have stayed bright for one and a half thousand years because the rock above them shields them from rain.
Today, children and visitors from all over the world climb about 1,200 steps to reach the top. From up there you can see jungle and lakes stretching all the way to the horizon, and you can still see the foundations of the palace gardens, like the floor plan of a house drawn in stone.