Built on the shores of the Kandy Lake within the royal palace complex, the temple is a masterpiece of Kandyan architecture, adorned with carved woodwork, gilded rooflines and fragrant offerings of jasmine and lotus. The daily puja ceremonies – held three times daily amid the resonant sound of drums and conches – create a moving and spiritually charged atmosphere. During the annual Esala Perahera festival in July or August, the tooth relic is paraded through the city’s streets in one of the most spectacular religious processions in Asia.