There is nothing else like it on the planet, which is why it is referred as as the "eighth wonder of the world." This is a massive monolithic rock that stands around 660 feet tall and has a flat top, as if it was carved with a gigantic knife. Let's go up to the summit and see what's up there, because there are beautiful ruins up there that are incredibly fascinating.
As you can see, there are a lot of weird brick constructions strewn about, and not only visitors are perplexed, but even archaeologists are baffled as to what these structures were employed for. They attest to the fact that everything you see is at least 3000 years old.
But it's not what these things are that's mysterious; it's how they were made. How did the ancient builders get all of these bricks to the top of the cliff? According to reports, at least 3 million bricks have been discovered here, but making these bricks on top of the granite would be difficult due to a lack of clay.
These bricks would have to have been brought in from the ground.
The truly unusual aspect is that there are no ancient stairs leading to the summit of the rock from the ground level. All of these metal steps were constructed in the previous century.
It will be quite difficult to ascend this cliff without these new stairs. This entire rock is now covered in various types of stairs; this is a separate level of spiral staircases. The ancient builders built only a few steps, but they did not go all the way to the summit.
Because there were no stairs to the top, no one, not even the natives, knew about Sigiriya until 200 years ago. This is why, in 1831, an Englishman named Jonathan Forbes "discovered" the ruins of Sigiriya.
So, how did the first humans ascend to the summit of Sigiriya? Assume that hiking uphill via these very steep, wooded sections is conceivable.
However, adequate staircases will be required to transport 3 million bricks from the ground level. It would be impossible to get them to the top without this.
But it's not the bricks or the marble that I'm perplexed about. It's because of the granite. Take a look at this massive water tank. If you overlook the bricks and marble blocks surrounding it, you'll notice that this is the world's largest monolithic tank. It wasn't erected by laying down stone blocks; instead, tonnes and tonnes of granite were scooped out of Solid Rock. And how many tonnes of rock have been hauled away?
