Hi my fellow Architecture+Design community lovers,
How are you guys? I hope you all had a wonderful and productive week. As I mentioned two days ago through the architectural content published on this platform, on May 24th, I had the opportunity to visit two old temples with beautiful architectural features in Sri Lanka. There one temple was covered, and I decided to cover the rest of the temple with two more contents. If you are coming from Galle, you can reach it from the Sandarawala junction by taking the Baddegama road. From Hikkaduwa to Baddegama town, you can reach this old temple by walking 2.5 km towards Galle. Today I would like to post about the unique architectural features of the Buddha Center of Dutugemunu Vihara, an old temple located in Baddegama Sandarawala. I will present the other part related to the history of this temple next time.
Dutugemunu temple was known as Hadidemala hill at that time. The reason is because Tamil soldiers with strong body were living here. Buddha Center decided to publish it in a separate content because of the attractive style that we saw there. On the upper part of the Buddha Center and the surrounding wall are paintings containing stories of the Buddha. Along with the new colors, the murals are attractive and the examples given to the society are very useful. The roof of the Sapiri Buddha Center with these paintings is covered with modern tiles, and the supporting pillars also have a distinctive character.
When you observe the pillars of the Buddhist center of Sandarawala Dutugemunu Vihara very closely, you can see signs like wood carvings in the middle. Even though it is thought to be wood carving, when you touch it, the carved areas of the white pillars have been coated with brown color and a form of wood carving has been shown to give a distinctive character. Two main signs of Buddhist carving art can be seen here.
The pride of Sri Lankan artists can be seen in the above murals. In fact, you have to see them with your own eyes to realize how fascinating they are. Pictures related to the character of Buddha mentioned in the history books of Buddhism are shown here. I saw the scenes of these stories that I had read in my childhood in these murals. Pictures with many stories show that good things should be added to life and unnecessary and bad things should be removed from life. Below this frescoed area, the wall is marked with Bhairavaya, the ruler of the earth. The carvings depict him holding the earth.
It is notable that the entrance to the Buddhist center of Dutugemunu Vihara is made of wood. As the old gate in the past was dilapidated, the temple development committee made and installed a gate with two gates. In front of the entrance there was a footwell to reduce the amount of dust entering. Like other old Sri Lankan temples, the Dutugemunu temple also has various carvings on the wall near the entrance.
On both sides of the entrance, there are sculptures of two deities to protect the Buddha shrine. God is created as a sculpture to protect Buddhism in the temple. That is why Buddhists worship God after Buddha. Apart from this, there are sculptures of elephants and palm fronds that reflect prosperity. You can also see some traditional Buddhist carvings.
The most attractive part of the Dutugemanu Temple is inside the Buddhist center. Fascinating architectural elements were seen everywhere. The Buddha statue inside is covered with glass. In front of it, all the gods and beings who were there to protect the Buddha, the leader of Buddhism, had been created. When you go inside, you feel a different peace. A bench is placed in front to offer flowers etc.
The innate creativity of the artists has been highlighted by creating various designs on the ceiling and walls inside the Buddhist center. The pillars supporting the ceiling are made of strong wood, and they are planted in a circular shape like a tree and have circular designs drawn in different colors. On the ceiling and wall, lotus flower emblems were mostly seen.
More devotees stayed here than other temples because of the high faith. It was a bit difficult to get photos when there were devotees. As in the other Buddha center, here too, a Buddha statue was created in yellow color mixed with orange. The event that introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka is depicted here. Buddhism was preached to King Devanampiyathissa while hunting deer from Anuradhapura's Mihintale rock with the leading monks of Mihindu Rahat. The incident happened in a forest with mango trees.
At Dutugemunu Vihara, the Buddhist center's ceiling and floor are also attractive shapes. Floral motifs created in different shapes were seen on the ceiling and uniquely shaped ceramic tiles were laid on the floor. It is obvious that the lights hanging from the ceiling add more reflection to the mountains at night.
Two small chambers in the Buddhist center building were reserved for the highly worshiped deity Sri Skanda Kumara and Sri Vishnu. Devotees believe that any faith placed in that God will be fulfilled. Therefore fruit offerings are regularly made for that god. See you again with more content.
