Sri Lanka’s oldest capital was the seat of government for over a thousand years and the spiritual centre of Theravada Buddhism across Asia for much of that period – producing towering brick stupas, vast monastic complexes, and the Sri Maha Bodhi, a fig tree grown from a cutting of the original Bodhi tree in 288 BCE that is the oldest documented living human-planted tree on earth. Anuradhapura is not simply a heritage site – it is an active pilgrimage destination visited daily by thousands of devout Buddhists, and the combination of monumental ancient architecture and living religious practice creates an atmosphere that is genuinely unlike anything elsewhere in the region.