Royal Palace of King Parakramabahu
The ruins of King Parakramabahu's once seven-storey palace, its thick brick walls still standing three levels high, alongside the fine council chamber and royal baths.
Just inside Polonnaruwa's main entrance, the massive ruins of what was once one of medieval Sri Lanka's grandest royal residences still convey genuine scale even in their weathered, roofless state. Known formally as the Vejayanta Pasada, or sometimes Vijayotpaya, meaning the Palace of God Sakra, King Parakramabahu I built this seven story complex during his reign between 1153 and 1186, deliberately naming it after the celestial palace of the Hindu god Indra, a choice meant to elevate the king's own earthly status to something approaching divine grandeur.
Ancient chronicles describe the palace as containing some 1,000 chambers spread across its seven stories, dimensions that would have made it comparable in height to seven story buildings constructed centuries later during the American industrial era. Archaeological evidence suggests the surviving ground floor, with walls over a meter thick and large holes marking where enormous wooden beams once anchored the structure, formed a central block roughly 100 to 150 feet square, with the upper floors likely built from wood rather than brick or stone, which explains why only the ground level and portions of a few upper stories have survived while the rest was lost, probably to fire during one of Polonnaruwa's numerous invasions.
Surrounding the main palace, visitors find the ruins of the king's Council Chamber, its staircase flanked by two moonstones and elaborately carved stone decoration, along with the Kumara Pokuna, a royal bathing pool identified in the Mahavamsa chronicle as Sila Pokkharani, designed to draw water directly from an adjacent source. Together these ruins, once surrounded by extensive gardens and recreational grounds, offer a genuinely evocative sense of what daily royal life looked like at the peak of Polonnaruwa's power, even stripped now of everything but stone.
At a glance
- Entry fee: Covered by the Polonnaruwa ancient city ticket, around USD 25
- Opening hours: 7:00am to 6:00pm
- Time needed: 45 minutes to 1 hour
- Best time: Morning
Getting there
In the palace group at the southern end of the central ruins.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to visit Royal Palace of King Parakramabahu?
- Covered by the Polonnaruwa ancient city ticket, around USD 25.
- What are the opening hours at Royal Palace of King Parakramabahu?
- 7:00am to 6:00pm.
- How long should I spend at Royal Palace of King Parakramabahu?
- Plan for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- When is the best time to visit Royal Palace of King Parakramabahu?
- Morning.
- How do I get to Royal Palace of King Parakramabahu?
- In the palace group at the southern end of the central ruins.