斯里兰卡丛林深处，有一块两百米高的巨岩。沿着岩壁攀到半腰，在一处凹进去的石窝里，十九个女人已经在那儿注视了一千五百年。她们被直接画在岩石上——金色的皮肤，腰以上什么都没穿，脖子上挂满珍珠和黄金。云雾缠绕在她们腰间，遮住了下半身。有人捧着鲜花，有人托着供品，有人就那么看着你，嘴角挂着一丝似有若无的微笑。没人知道她们是谁。
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往昔之谜·1/5·1′
The place
Sigiriya
云中仙女
斯里兰卡丛林中的一面崖壁上，曾画满五百多位天女——如今只剩十九位，一千五百年了，没人知道她们是谁
c. 480 CE (painted); 1875 (European rediscovery); 1967 (vandalism)Sigiriya
故事寓意
“最伟大的艺术不提供答案——它只管提问。一千五百年来，无数人站在这些女人面前，把自己的欲望、悲伤和信仰投射上去。而云中仙女始终以同样安静的半微笑回望，守着自己的秘密，比所有理论、所有帝国都活得更久。”
人物
K
King Kashyapa I (patron of the frescoes)T
The unnamed master painter and his workshopD
Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy (art historian, apsara theory)D
Dr. Senarath Paranavitana (archaeologist, cloud-lightning theory)H
H.C.P. Bell (British archaeologist who documented the site)来源
Paranavitana, Senarath. The Significance of the Paintings of Sigiriya, Artibus Asiae, 1950; Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. Mediaeval Sinhalese Art, 1908; Bell, H.C.P. Report on the Sigiriya Excavations, Archaeological Survey of Ceylon, 1904; Bandaranayake, Senake. Sigiriya: City, Palace and Royal Gardens, 2005; UNESCO World Heritage File 202