Place · national museum · Sri Lanka
Colombo National Museum
Also known as Sri Lanka National Museum, Colombo Museum, National Museum of Colombo
The Colombo National Museum, Sri Lanka's largest, opened on 1 January 1877 under Governor Sir William Gregory in an Italianate building designed by James George Smither and built by the contractor Wapchi Marikar. It holds the throne and crown jewels of the last King of Kandy, returned by the British government, and its ground-floor galleries run in historical sequence. Its library, opened the same day, has received a copy of every document printed in the country since 1885.
- Date
- 1877–None
- Function
- Learning & scholarship
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 6.910, 79.861
Worth knowing
Asked what honour he wanted for building it, Wapchi Marikar asked that the museum close on Fridays, the Muslim sabbath, and the request was granted.
About the place
Placed at the coordinates given on the Wikipedia article.
Connections (2)
- Site withinColombo
The Colombo National Museum stands beside Viharamahadevi Park and the Town Hall. It was founded on 1 January 1877 by Governor Sir William Gregory at the Royal Asiatic Society's urging and built by the Colombo contractor Wapchi Marikar, who also built the city's General Post Office, customs house and Galle Face Hotel. Its library, opened the same day, absorbed the Government Oriental Library of 1870 and became the island's first legal-deposit library.
- Historical linkTemple of the Tooth, Kandy
The Colombo National Museum holds the throne and crown jewels of the last King of Kandy, returned to Sri Lanka by the British government. The Temple of the Tooth stands in the royal palace complex of the Kandyan kingdom, whose relic was believed to confer the right to govern, and the cession of the Kandyan kingdom to the British in 1815 made Colombo the capital of Ceylon, so the regalia now rest in the city that replaced Kandy.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Colombo National Museum".
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