Kalutara Chaitya

The Kalutara Chaitya is a Stupa (buddhist shrine) located immediately south of the Kalutara Bridge in the Kalutara District of Sri Lanka. It is one of only a few hollow Buddhist stupas in the world and its interior contains 74 murals, each depicting a different aspect of the Buddha's life. Four small chaityas (stupas) are located inside the larger hollow stupa and on the walls of the larger stupa, scenes from Jataka tales are painted. Visitors can walk inside the Kalutara Chaitya to worship and to look at the statues and wall paintings of the stories of Buddha.

The stupa was commissioned by Sir Cyril de Zoysa, with the design undertaken by Justin Samarasekera in collaboration with A. N. S. Kulasinghe. The construction was carried out by the State Engineering Corporation of Sri Lanka, whose computer (the first in the country) enabled the complicated calculations to be carried out. 5 in). It was the first thin hemispherical shell built in the country. The site of the stupa was originally occupied by the Gangatilaka Vihara, however it was destroyed by the Portuguese...