This sacred Bud­dhist site, pop­u­lar­ly known as the city of Senkada­gala­pu­ra, was the last cap­i­tal of the Sin­hala kings whose patron­age enabled the Dina­ha­la cul­ture to flour­ish for more than 2,500 years until the occu­pa­tion of Sri Lan­ka by the British in 1815. It is also the site of the Tem­ple of the Tooth Rel­ic (the sacred tooth of the Bud­dha), which is a famous pil­grim­age site.