Place · telecommunications & observation tower · Sri Lanka
Lotus Tower, Colombo
Also known as Colombo Lotus Tower, Nelum Kuluna, Tāmaraik Kōpuram
The Lotus Tower beside Beira Lake in Colombo stands about 350 metres high and was, as of 2019, the tallest self-supported structure in South Asia. Built from 2012 under a contract with Chinese state companies and opened on 16 September 2019, it carries antennas for dozens of television and radio services, with an observation gallery, restaurants and a museum. Its form is modelled on the lotus, a symbol of purity in Sri Lankan culture, rising from a base inspired by the lotus throne.
- Date
- 2012–2019
- Function
- Other / mixed
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 6.927, 79.858
Worth knowing
The opening was overshadowed by the president's claim that a two-billion-rupee advance had vanished with a non-existent company; the company, ALIT, turned out to be a Chinese state firm, which said the money had gone to its partner CEIEC.
About the place
Placed at the coordinates given on the Wikipedia article.
Its height is given variously as 350 and 351.5 metres.
Connections (2)
- Site withinColombo
The Lotus Tower stands in Colombo 01 on the waterfront of Beira Lake beside D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha. It was first proposed for the suburb of Peliyagoda, but the government moved it to the heart of the city, where a planned monorail and bus hub were to converge beside it. It carries broadcasting antennas for some fifty television services, thirty-five FM stations and twenty telecommunications providers, and since its opening in 2019 it has become a symbolic landmark of the city and the country.
- Site adjacencyGangaramaya Temple, Colombo
The Lotus Tower and Gangaramaya both stand on Beira Lake, the 65-hectare lake in the heart of Colombo that colonists once used to defend the city. The tower's design draws on the lotus, a symbol of purity in Sri Lankan culture, and its base on the lotus throne, while Gangaramaya's Seema Malaka rests on platforms in the same water ringed by seated Buddhas. An old Buddhist emblem and a working temple thus share one city lake.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Lotus Tower".
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