The Sigiriya Mirror Wall
A polished plaster wall beside the climb, covered in centuries of visitors’ verses, many of them addressed to the painted women above.
Sources
What the Mirror Wall actually is
The Mirror Wall is a brick wall on the path up Sigiriya, covered in highly polished white plaster. Its surface is covered in handwriting, scratched in Sinhala by people who climbed the rock to see the paintings. Many of the verses address the painted women directly.
Dates are not as neat as ‘from the 8th century’. A scholarly estimate in the Sunday Times puts the earliest few entries in the 6th or 7th century, with most from the 8th to 10th and a trickle as late as the 14th or 15th. Senarath Paranavitana read 685 verses in his 1956 study, and a later reader added roughly 800 more, out of an estimated 1,800 or so records. About 300 are too worn to read.
The poems are often described as among the earliest Sinhala verse, and the largest group are addressed to the frescoes. Adding your own writing is now illegal, and in 2014 a teenager was arrested for it.
Worth your attention
The surface
Look at how smooth and pale the plaster is, then at the scratches cut through it. The contrast is the point.
The handwriting
Fine, scratched letters in an old Sinhala script, some crowded, some alone. You will not read them without help, but the density tells the story.
The nearby gallery
The poems are largely aimed at the painted women, so see the wall and the frescoes together.
The size of the record
About 1,800 records estimated, with roughly 1,500 deciphered. Let a guide read one or two aloud.
Before you go
Do this
- Ask a guide or read a translated verse; the script is not readable at a glance
- Look first, then step back to see how the wall curves with the rock
- Visit with the frescoes in mind; many verses refer to the painted women
- Look again on the way down; the wall is easier to study when you are not queuing
- Use the wall as a rest point, but not as a notice board
Know this first
- Writing on the wall is illegal, and a 17-year-old was arrested for it in November 2014 (later pardoned)
- The graffiti are faint and easy to miss if you are hurrying
- The wall is a short stop; do not expect a long visit
- Counts of verses and dates vary by source, so treat any single number with caution
Getting to The Sigiriya Mirror Wall
Most people see The Sigiriya Mirror Wall as part of a stay around Sigiriya Rock Fortress. Our Sigiriya Rock Fortress guide covers where to stay, how long to give it and what else is nearby.
Coming straight from the airport, the relevant run is Colombo Airport to Sigiriya Rock Fortress — fixed price per vehicle, driver waiting inside arrivals with a name board.
Read the full Sigiriya Rock Fortress guideFrom Colombo Airport
Car up to 3 passengers; vans quoted on the route page. No night surcharge.
The Sigiriya Mirror Wall — frequently asked
What is the Mirror Wall?
A brick wall covered in polished plaster on the climb up Sigiriya, carved with visitors’ verses from roughly the 6th/7th to the 14th/15th century.
How many graffiti are there?
Around 1,800 records are estimated. Roughly 1,500 have been read, 685 by Paranavitana and about 800 by a later scholar.
When was the writing done?
Most entries date from the 8th to 10th centuries, with a few earlier and some later.
Can I write on it?
No. It is illegal, and it has led to arrests.
Also worth stopping for around Sigiriya Rock Fortress
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