Standing Out
Hello out there,
When I’m abroad, religious sights are always one of the most interesting places I like to visit. On one side, you meet local people and can observe their daily life. On the other side, are these places architecturally very interesting and convey a good impression of a countries culture. And of course, it does not matter, if they are Muslim mosques, Christian churches, Jewish synagogue or like, in this case, a Buddhist temple, which I discovered during my trip through Sri Lanka.
This relatively small island nation has in this regard a lot to offer. Especially its northern part, with the so-called Cultural Triangle of the cities Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and Kandy, is definitely worth a visit. This photograph, for example, was taken in the Mihintale Temple, right within this triangle. According to a legend, this temple on top of a mountain represents the place from where Buddhism first spread in Sri Lanka. For the religious people, it is, therefore, one of the major pilgrim goals of the country.
So one morning I was climbing an uncountable number of stairs among dozens of locals up the mountain. The view from the top alone, over this relatively flat part of the island, was definitely worth the effort. But while most of the pilgrims continued on to a stupa, my attention was drawn to some ruins of an older part of the temple. For some reason, one of the statues stood out from the other and I, therefore, wanted to photograph it. Instantly I found a straight on composition to be the best view. So I got out my camera and just pressed the shutter.