Rankoth Vehera is the largest stupa at Polonnaruwa and the fourth largest in Sri Lanka, a great white-painted dome 33 metres high commissioned by Nissanka Malla in the late twelfth century. It was deliberately modelled on the older Ruwanwelisaya at Anuradhapura — the new dynasty making its claim to the older Sinhalese tradition.
Walk slowly around the base — the proportions are best appreciated in the lower light of early morning or late afternoon, when the dome glows against the dark forest behind. Several smaller votive stupas and an inscribed stone slab erected by the king himself stand in the surrounding compound.