Miniature Water Garden 1
Sigiriya Garden is divided into few zones. Many of them are water gardens.
Miniature Water Garden 1 is the first water garden you come across if you enter Sigiriya from West Gate. There are two identical water gardens in mirror image at either side, but only the left garden is excavated.
On the left is a detailed illustration of the garden. (click on the image for full size illustration)The garden could be divided into 5 sub zones as marked on this map.The garden features a network of pavilions, kiosks and courtyards.The buildings in this garden are surrounded with shallow water paths filled with slow moving water. These water paths feature pebbled or polished marble floors. There are small rectangular water tubes made of clay bricks which carry water from the reservoir tanks to these water paths. A set of sub terrain plumbing (some still operational) feed the reservoir tanks.It is believed that this garden has undergone to more than one phase of construction. Initially laid out in the last quarter of the 5th century, there exists evidence of abandonment and re-building after the fall of king Kashyapa, probably in the 10th and 13th centuries.