Kiri Vehera — the "Milk Stupa" — was built by Queen Subhadra, principal consort of Parakramabahu I, in the twelfth century. The stupa is 24 metres high and retains a remarkable amount of its original white-lime plaster, which gave it its name. Set on a wide open terrace inside the so-called Alahana Pirivena monastic complex, it is one of the best-preserved stupas of the medieval Sinhalese period.
Walking the encircling path is meditative — there is usually a sprinkling of pilgrims in white circling clockwise around the dome. Photograph it from the south-east in the late afternoon, when the sun lights up the plaster and the surrounding forest glows.