Tissa Wewa
Tissa
Wewa (or Tisa Wewa) was built by King Devanam Piya Tissa.(306 BC - 266
BC). Only Panda Wewa and
Abhaya Wewa are considered to be older than Tissa Wewa. The embankment of Tissa Wewa is 11,000
feet long (Two miles) and 25 feet high.
The width of the top of the reservoir was found to be 12 feet and the
slope of the embankment is three horizontals to one vertical. Base of the embankment is 160 feet. (Compare this to a 300 ft long soccer
field). According to Parker, (Ref.
Ancient Ceylon) the embankment was made so solidly that it would last forever!.
Tissa Wewa has an area of approximately 400 acres.
View from the embankment. Due to dry season, water level is much lower than usual.
Embankment of the Tissa Wewa. These photos were taken from the foot of the embankment. One could see the amount of earthwork that had to be compacted in order to construct the embankement.
Bisokotuwa
Ancient Bisokotuwa was built using stones. Today, the old stone structure was embedded in concrete.
Concrete embedded Bisokotuwa.
This structure was built to control the water pressure in the reservoir. (Concise Mahavamsa book has a detailed description of Bisokotuwa)
Side view of Bisokotuwa
Steps to climb to the embankment
