The Satmahal Prasada ("seven-story tower") is a 12th-century

step pyramid A step pyramid or stepped pyramid is an architectural structure that uses flat platforms, or steps, receding from the ground up, to achieve a completed shape similar to a geometric pyramid. Step pyramids – typically large and made of several la ...

in the northeast corner of the archaeological complex of

Polonnaruwa Poḷonnaruwa, (; ) also referred as Pulathisipura and Vijayarajapura in History of Sri Lanka, ancient times, is the main town of Polonnaruwa District in North Central Province, Sri Lanka. The modern town of Polonnaruwa is also known as New Town, ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It is believed to be a

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

because it is in a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

environment. It is unique in the area, of unknown builder and purpose. It is often compared to the stupa at Wat Kukut in

Lamphun Lamphun (; , ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Lamphun Province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Lamphun district. As of 2006 it has a population of 14,030. Lamphun lies north of Bangkok and ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and to the

Buddhist architecture Buddhist religious architecture developed in the Indian subcontinent. Three types of structures are associated with the sacred architecture, religious architecture of History of Buddhism, early Buddhism: monasteries (viharas), places to venerate ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. According to the '' Mahavamsa'', King

Parakramabahu I Parākramabāhu I (Sinhala language, Sinhala: මහා පරාක්‍රමබාහු, 1123–1186), or Parakramabahu the Great, was the List of Sinhalese monarchs, king of Kingdom of Polonnaruwa, Polonnaruwa from 1153 to 1186. He oversaw ...

the Great (1123–1186) built a seven-story tower at Polonnaruwa, but there is no certainty that he refers to this one. An inscription on the

Hatadage Hatadage (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ) is an ancient relic shrine in the city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. It was built by King Nissanka Malla, and had been used to keep the Relic of the tooth of the Buddha. The Hatadage had been built using stone, b ...

, the nearby King

Nissanka Malla Nissanka Malla (), also known as Keerti Nissanka and Kalinga Lokeshvara was a king of Polonnaruwa (Sri Lanka) who ruled the country from 1187 to 1196. He is known for his architectural constructions such as the Nissanka Lata Mandapaya, Hatadage a ...

's (1187-1196) Tooth Relic Temple, states that "he erected within forty-five days a palace of seven storeys". It is made of

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

and a layer of plaster. It has seven floors, although the seventh only barely remains. It has a square plan, with a lateral staircase. It presents the same decoration on its four sides. On the ground floor, there are four entrances to a corridor surrounding an octagonal structure, maybe a reliquary. On the upper floors, there is a sculpture at the centre of each wall, surrounded by an arch and holes for anchoring a niche or a similar structure. It has been related to the pyre of

Hephaestion Hephaestion ( ''Hēphaistíōn''; c. 356 BC – 324 BC), son of Amyntor, was an ancient Macedonian nobleman of probable "Attic or Ionian extraction" and a general in the army of Alexander the Great. He was "by far the dearest ...

, built in the 4th century BC by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

to honour that general.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 7.94795, 81.00185, format=dms, type:landmark_region:LK-7, display=title Buildings and structures in Polonnaruwa Pyramids in Asia Stupas in Sri Lanka