Where is the sacred city of Anuradhapura, home to eight places of veneration where the Buddha once visited?

One of Sri Lanka's ancient capitals, Anuradhapura was founded in the 4th century BC and flourished for centuries as a center of both the Hindu and Buddhist worlds. Abandoned around 1017 AD, the city sat of neglect and decay for a millennium until the British rediscovered the site in the 19th century. The sacred city is surrounded by more than 16 square miles of elaborate Buddhist monasteries, many of which contain monumental, dome-shaped reliquaries called stupas. Pictured here is the Ruwanwelisaya Dagoba, or the Great Stupa, which boasts the largest collection of Buddhist relics in the world. Standing at 338 feet, the stupa is one of the world's tallest ancient structures. It was originally constructed c. 140 BC and restored in the 20th century.

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