page_title: Anuradhapura
section_title: Excavations
hierarchical_section_title: Anuradhapura / Modern era / Excavations
caption_attribution_description: English: Abhayagiri Vihāra was a major monastery site of Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhism, located in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is one of the most extensive ruins in the world and one of the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage cities in the nation.
context_page_description: Anuradhapura is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka and the capital of Anuradhapura District. Anuradhapura is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of an ancient Sinhala civilization. It was the third capital of the kingdom of Rajarata, following the kingdoms of Tambapanni and Upatissa Nuwara.
  The city, now a World Heritage site, was the centre of Theravada Buddhism for many centuries. The city lies 205 km north of the current capital of Colombo in the North Central Province, on the banks of the historic Malvathu River. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and one of the eight World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.
context_section_description: Various excavations have taken place at the site, beginning in 1884-86 by Stephen Montagu Burrows.
  According to carbon dating, the ruins excavated were from the 10th-century BC.
caption: Abhayagiri Dagoba in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5312", "Image ImageLength": "2988", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-G920F", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2016:10:23 09:26:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "288", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "846", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8289", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1308", "EXIF FNumber": "19/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "40", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:10:11 08:24:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:10:11 08:24:45", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "259/25", "EXIF ApertureValue": "37/20", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "209/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "37/20", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "43/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5254", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2898", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "28", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "A16LSIA00SM A16LSIL02SM"}