Thivanka Pilimage (Polonnaruwa) Thivanka Pilimage / Pilima Geya , or Tivanka image house (Sinhala: තිවංක පිළිම ගෙය) is a Gedige (vaulted) type image house located in the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa , Sri Lanka. This image house is famous across the country for its 12th-century paintings belonging to the Polonnaruwa Period . History
Constructed by King Parakramabahu I (1153-1186 A.D.), Thivanka Pilimage was the image house that belonged to the ancient Jetavanarama monastery (Nicholas, 1963; Wikramagamage, 2004). Rediscovery
The image house which was covered by jungle for about five centuries was rediscovered in 1885, by S. M. Burrows (Wikramagamage, 2004). Image house The walls and the roof of Thiwanka Pilimage have been completely built out of bricks and therefore, known as a Gedige-type image house (Wikramagamage, 2004). There are three examples of this type of vaulted-roof shrine at Polonnaruwa; viz: Thivanka Pilimage, Lankathilaka Pilimage , and Thuparama Pilimage . The original brick vaulted roof of the image house, howev…