Conservation work has begun at the Western Monastery complex in Anuradhapura, the Central Cultural Fund (CCF) says.
CCF Director General Dr. Nilan Cooray said infrastructure in the area will also be developed to improve the experience of both local and foreign visitors.
The complex is made up of a number of monasteries built around Padhanaghara structures — buildings that served as residential and meditation quarters for Buddhist monks. Some sections of the site have already been conserved, but many parts have had no preservation work at all.
Historical sources indicate that during the 6th and 7th centuries AD the monasteries housed monks who had separated from the Abhayagiri and Maha Vihara traditions, and who devoted themselves to meditation and ascetic practice.
The CCF is the state body charged with conserving and managing Sri Lanka’s principal archaeological sites, among them the Sacred City of Anuradhapura. It is also handling the restoration of six archaeological shrines damaged by Cyclone Ditwah under a Rs. 550 million allocation, part of a wider programme covering 265 damaged religious sites.
NewsFirst did not report a timeline or a budget for the Western Monastery work, or say how much of the complex remains to be conserved.
