Hollombuwa Sthreepura Cave Temple

A natural cave near Galigamuwa, reached by a 3 km turn off the Galigamuwa-Avissawela road at Pitagaldeniya junction, converted into a Buddhist shrine room. Sculptures and paintings inside date to 1935, and a natural rock arch stands outside the entrance. Two pools sit within the cave: an inner one shallow enough to see the bottom, and an outer pool that is narrower, deeper, and does not reveal its floor.

The site is called Sthreepura — city of women — after a tradition that it once sheltered 500 queens, who are said to have used the pools as their water source for bathing and drinking. Local tradition also holds that an underground tunnel once connected the cave to Yatahalena and Dedigama; it is reportedly sealed with concrete today. The temple itself is traditionally dated to the reign of King Walagamba, in the Anuradhapura period.