This impressive shrine, built by Parakramabahu I, displays a colossal, standing Buddha (next page) in a narrow but very tall cella between two massive 16m-high walls that are introduced by five-storey-high pylons. The stuccoed fabric of the building was decorated with architectural reliefs (following pages) and paintings (now lost). "Lankatilaka" means "Ornament of Lanka," a name that is surely appropriate to this impressive gedige, the largest in Sri Lanka. A tiny figure in the lower right corner of this photo, half-hidden underneath the tree, indicates the scale of the building.