Sigiriya. Softening stone (Part 1)
Sigiriya. Small architectural forms (Part 2)
Sigiriya. "Throne Room" (Part 4)
If you look at the entire Sigiriya complex as a whole, the first thing that catches your eye is the huge amount of brickwork. It is everywhere, there is so much of it that you can build a small neighborhood. In this connection, the question arises, how was all this brick delivered to a height of 200 meters?
Today, tourists with great difficulty overcome the long ascent along a comfortable metal staircase, which, as everyone understands, did not exist before. Therefore, there is really nothing to think about here, and there are only two options - either giant forests were built, on which the surrounding forest would have to be cut down, simultaneously setting up the production of boards, or the brick was delivered by air, no matter how fantastic it sounds for the XIV century.
Another circumstance complicates the task. The fact is that meteorological data since 1895 indicate that the wind and rain of the two monsoons stop field work in the area for 8 months a year. February, April and March are the only months when construction work is possible in this region of the country. But the builders of Lion Rock did not care.
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There is one more question - what kind of palace is it, which all consists of massive brick walls and staircases, each of which is the most complex engineering structure? And not a single living space.
For example, if today we wanted to build the same staircase, as shown in the photo below, it would take at least a year for research and design work. And most importantly, you can't do without a computer. Do not forget that this is just one of the many staircases, complex walls and other structures. But it is believed that, at the behest of the king, everything was built "by eye" by forced Indians 600 years ago.
And most importantly, there is no structure that was supposed to serve all these beautiful stairs. Historians, as always say, "did not have time", they prepared everything, and then something went wrong, abandoned and "forgotten for hundreds of years." In connection with the age of the building, the following question arises - how could the brickwork, which stood in the open air for 600 years in an area where it rains for almost 8 months a year, could have survived in such an ideal state?
It is possible that not a simple solution was used, but a polymer. Thanks to the development of the petrochemical industry, such bonding polymers have been learned to produce quite recently. In particular, many different materials are made today on the basis of recycled polyethylene, but they have not yet thought of pouring them the seams between the bricks.
If you look closely at the masonry of Sigiriya, you will not leave the feeling that it is somehow different - there are no dressings, end bricks and the masonry is identical everywhere. Always and in all places, the thickness of the brick and the width of the joints are the same. It seems that all the masonry in Sigiriya was done by one master, but this does not happen.
But the most important thing is the style in which the bricks are laid. It is clear that they are laid in layers, but the layers of the Sigiriya masonry look like they were laid with tape, squeezed out of a tube. Sometimes huge volumes are easily filled with masonry. It looks like the entire brickwork of Sigiriya was simply 3D printed by a 3D printer that printed the bricks while filling the joints with a special grout.
Ladders, in fact, are not ladders, but carriages with a certain step, along which the printer walked, sealing the areas around it. This explains the dead-end flights of stairs and a platform near the pool, which were previously prepared. The robot was placed on this platform, as if it were the zero point, and he went to print himself according to the program.
Probably, the technology was used when bricks were first laid out, and then the joints were filled with mortar. It remains the question of delivering the material, which, for sure, could be taken from neighboring lakes, but it seems that there were no problems with firing.
It is possible that only clay and water were immediately loaded into the cartridges, and the printer itself produced the brick. This can explain the fact that the machine always knew what size brick to put it in a given case. This is especially noticeable on semicircular masonry. Those who built Lion Rock didn’t seem to have problems melting the rock, so it’s not hard to imagine a printer that prints with boulders. They just changed the size of the drop and that's it.
The entire area of the complex is carefully planned and looks like a fortified area. Actually, it is often called that - the Sigiriya fortress. But it is not clear why it was necessary to make such titanic efforts and from whom to defend?
The only function that has been performed flawlessly to this day is to strengthen the top of the mountain and the surrounding area. For hundreds of years, nothing has happened to the complex and will not happen even without the help of restorers.
Nothing has eroded anywhere (and this is in the tropics), has not eroded (at such a height), has not collapsed or broken. Even the pool is not clogged with mud. Maybe this was the main goal of the builders - to create an indestructible sign for orientation. Why not? The rock is ideal for this function, as it is visible from afar and even from space. The mirror of the Sigiriya pool, which is always filled with water, makes it easy to navigate. Knowing its size or the distance between the pools, you can get the height and position in space.
This assumption confirms one more fact. Sigiriya lies on the Teotihuacan meridian with a deviation of about ten kilometers, only on the other side of the Earth. Also on this meridian lies Mount Kailash, sacred to all Buddhists.
Materials from sites geolines.ru and dopotopa.com were used
Sigiriya. Softening stone (Part 1)
Sigiriya. Small architectural forms (Part 2)
Sigiriya. "Throne Room" (Part 4)