 Colombo Budget Travel Guide
Independence Commemoration Hall, Colombo
Author: Charaka Ranasinghe (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
Colombo is the largest city as well as the commercial centre for Sri Lanka. What is interesting which I recently discovered is that officially, Colombo is not the capital of Sri Lanka. That honour goes to Kotte, to be precise, Sri Jayewardenapura-Kotte, to the southeast of Colombo. While the administrative capital is located there since 1982, when the new building of the Parliament of Sri Lanka was inaugurated there, the nerve centre of Sri Lanka remains in Colombo. Well, that's a little trivia for geography puritans, for the majority of us, we'll just treat Colombo as the capital.
Colombo City Centre with Galadari Hotel, Bank of Ceylon, the World Trade Center and the Presidential Secretariat
Author: Bernard Gagnon (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
I had the opportunity to explore Colombo on our final day of Sri Lanka. A small group of AsiaExplorers members and I walked the streets in the Fort and Pettah districts of Colombo, where most of the historical buildings are located. By coach we also explored further afield, visiting all the major landmarks of the city.
Galle Face, Colombo
Author: Mayakaru (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Colombo can trace its history as far back as 2000 years ago. It has already been a port known to Roman, Arab and Chinese traders. Throughout the ages, Colombo was the port through which much of the trade flows between the outside world and the Sinhalese kingdoms.
Muslims settled in Colombo since the 8th century. Their legacy can be seen today in the form of the Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque in the Pettah district. Despite continuous unrest between Muslims and Tamils, there are in Colombo a few Hindu temples - known in Sri Lanka as kovil. This being a Buddhist country, there are no doubt plenty of Buddhist temples in Colombo. One of the most interesting, in my opinion, is the Asokaramaya Temple on Thimbirigasyaya Road.
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Author: Bernard Gagnon (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
When the Portuguese arrived in Colombo in the 16th century, they expelled the Muslims and built a fort to protect their monopoly on the spice trade. Next in line were the Dutch, who wrestled Sri Lanka from the Portuguese in 1656 after a long siege, at the end of which, there was only 93 Portuguese survivors within the fort.
In 1802, the British took over Sri Lanka from the Dutch, and made Colombo the capital of the crown colony of Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was known up till 1972, when it changed its name to Sri Lanka. The name Sri Lanka, which has its origin in Sanskrit, means "venerable Lanka". Lanka is a name that has long been associated with the island since ancient times.
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Thumbnails of Colombo Tourist Attractions |
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Buddhist Temple will wall paintings.
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Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall
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The present Town Hall of Colombo, built in 1927.
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Name of a district in Colombo
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Open air esplanade area in Colombo
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Venue for state ceremonies.
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Red-and-white striped mosque in Pettah district.
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Once a town hall, this building is today converted into a museum.
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A district within Colombo
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Pavillions on Beira Lake in Colombo.
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One of the Hindu temples in Colombo
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Formerly Victoria Park, this park was renamed after a Sinhalese queen.
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