{"id":154391,"date":"2026-01-29T15:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=154391"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:34:25","slug":"the-engineering-marvels-of-sri-lankas-ancient-kingdom-anuradhapura-the-mark-of-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/01\/29\/the-engineering-marvels-of-sri-lankas-ancient-kingdom-anuradhapura-the-mark-of-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Engineering Marvels of Sri Lanka&#8217;s Ancient Kingdom Anuradhapura | The Mark Of Empire"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Senaka Weeraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Engineering Marvels Of Sri Lanka&#039;s Ancient Kingdom Anuradhapura | The Mark Of Empire\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vLDTBFcqKdA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>34,747 views Jan 28, 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/cnainsider\">#CNAInsider<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/cnainsiderdocumentaries\">#CNAInsiderDocumentaries<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hashtag\/cnathemarkofempire\">#CNATheMarkOfEmpire<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The island of Sri Lanka has lured travellers from near and afar to its shores. Over 2,500 years ago, this was the domain of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, a unifying force that turned the island\u2019s dry plains into a breadbasket to fuel their cultural growth as a budding centre for the new religion of Buddhism, and where followers flocked to from as far away as Greece and China. Curator and scholar Peter Lee travels across this beautiful island to discover how it became known across the ancient world for its unimaginable riches, drawing traders in search of luxury goods, but also becoming a target of envy to unwelcome visitors. From visiting the kingdom\u2019s first Buddhist stupa, to practicing the ancient martial art of Angampora, to tracing the origins of its celebrated moonstone gem, he sees how the kingdom created a dazzling golden age that laid the foundations for a distinct culture and identity that has endured until today. WATCH MORE The Mark of Empire: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLkMf14VQEvTbN1Gh3smAZtc2E-ACeu3Fg\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLkMf14VQEvTbN1Gh3smAZtc2E-ACeu3Fg\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;The&nbsp;Mark&nbsp;of&nbsp;Empire&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA\">00:00<\/a> Introduction <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=135s\">02:15<\/a> At the Esala Perahera festival <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=260s\">04:20<\/a> Sri Lanka&#8217;s Buddhist roots <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=383s\">06:23<\/a> First stupa <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=459s\">07:39<\/a> Inside a monastery for women <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=700s\">11:40<\/a> A history of invasions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=766s\">12:46<\/a> Warriors&#8217; martial art: Angampora <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=982s\">16:22<\/a> Street art around Sri Lanka <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=1116s\">18:36<\/a> City architecture of Anuradhapura <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=1271s\">21:11<\/a> Surprising visitors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=1387s\">23:07<\/a> Inside UNESCO site Lion Rock <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=1628s\">27:08<\/a> Ancient hydraulic network <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=1774s\">29:34<\/a> Historical hospital complex <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=1912s\">31:52<\/a> Sri Lanka&#8217;s traditional medicine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=2101s\">35:01<\/a> Panning for gems <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=2389s\">39:49<\/a> Jewel of Anuradhapura art: Moonstone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vLDTBFcqKdA&amp;t=2557s\">42:37<\/a> Fall of the kingdom&nbsp; ============================== ABOUT The Mark of Empire: Kingdoms of the Sea: What are the secrets and mysteries behind Asia\u2019s ancient empires? In the third season of this award-winning series, curator and scholar Peter Lee is back on a journey to trace clues and uncover new theories behind the Srivijaya empire, the Champa kingdom, the Sultanate of Sulu, and the Anuradhapura kingdom. What were the epic battles, political alliances and cultural exchanges forged by the four powers in the region? From investigating the iconic reliefs of Borobudur temple in Indonesia, to diving for sea cucumbers in the Philippines\u2019 Sulu Archipelago, to practicing the ancient martial art of Angampora in Sri Lanka, and learning about modern Cham rap music in Vietnam, Peter traces the rise and fall of these formidable kingdoms, and the cultural legacies that they have left on the region until today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senaka Weeraratna 34,747 views Jan 28, 2026 #CNAInsider #CNAInsiderDocumentaries #CNATheMarkOfEmpire The island of Sri Lanka has lured travellers from near and afar to its shores. Over 2,500 years ago, this was the domain of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, a unifying force that turned the island\u2019s dry plains into a breadbasket to fuel their cultural growth as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154392,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154391\/revisions\/154392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}