Weherahena Temple
A Buddhist temple near Matara known for its huge seated Buddha and a warren of underground tunnels lined with hundreds of painted scenes from the Buddha's life.
About 6 km inland from Matara, in the village of Kumburugamuwa, a Buddhist temple traces its origins back to a monk's fall from grace rather than any grand royal commission. In the early 19th century, a monk dismissed by his own teacher settled in this forested area with little more than basic supplies, and with help from local villagers, built himself a small clay dwelling. That humble start eventually grew, under the guidance of Rev. Rewatha Thero who laid the temple's formal foundation in 1939, into what's now known as Weherahena Poorwarama Rajamaha Viharaya, one of the most visually striking temples anywhere in southern Sri Lanka.
The temple's defining feature towers 39 meters into the sky, a seated Buddha statue considered the tallest in the country, cast in concrete and finished in gold paint, visible from a considerable distance across the surrounding countryside. Beneath it lies the temple's other claim to fame, an extraordinary underground tunnel complex, often called the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, its walls covered in somewhere between 1,500 and 20,000 hand painted panels depicting Jataka tales from the Buddha's previous lives, a genuinely staggering amount of devotional artwork packed into a single winding passage.
Walking through that tunnel, one panel after another unfolding in the dim light, feels less like a museum visit and more like moving through an illustrated scripture, monks on site often available to guide visitors through the sequence and explain individual scenes. A small museum elsewhere in the complex holds ancient coins, pottery and statues, while a Bo tree, believed grown from a sapling of the original tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment, adds another layer of sanctity to the grounds. Climbing to the statue's upper platform rewards visitors with sweeping views back over the temple complex and the countryside beyond, a fitting high point, literally, to what remains one of Matara's most memorable stops.
At a glance
- Entry fee: Donation
- Opening hours: 6:00am to 8:00pm
- Time needed: 45 minutes to 1 hour
- Best time: Daytime
Getting there
At Weherahena, about 4km from Matara town.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to visit Weherahena Temple?
- Donation.
- What are the opening hours at Weherahena Temple?
- 6:00am to 8:00pm.
- How long should I spend at Weherahena Temple?
- Plan for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- When is the best time to visit Weherahena Temple?
- Daytime.
- How do I get to Weherahena Temple?
- At Weherahena, about 4km from Matara town.