The Kandyan throne
Back from Britain with the crown in 1934.
David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada — CC BY 2.0 · Hasindu2008 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hasindu2008 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mr Nigel — CC BY-SA 2.0 · NationalMuseumVisit — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Colombo National Museum is Sri Lanka's largest museum. Founded by the British governor Sir William Henry Gregory, it opened on 1 January 1877 as the Colombo Museum and is run by the Department of National Museums. Its prize exhibits are the crown of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last king of Kandy, and the kingdom's throne. Government architect James G. Smither designed it in Italianate style: two white storeys around airy courtyards, wrapped in arcaded verandas against the monsoon rain. The regalia went to Britain after the king's capture in 1815; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, returned the crown and throne in 1934 for permanent display here. A bronze statue of Gregory stands out front. Ground-floor halls trace the island's story from prehistory through the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy periods, and the 4th- or 5th-century granite Toluvila Buddha greets visitors at the entrance; upstairs, galleries show paintings, textiles, ceramics, coins and arms. Seek out Lewke's Cannon, adorned with gold, silver and rubies and returned by the Netherlands in 2023, and, in the Transitional Period gallery, the Galle Trilingual Inscription, dated 1409 and set up in Galle by the Chinese admiral Zheng He, with texts in Chinese, Tamil and Persian, the Persian one praising Allah. Its roughly 5-hectare garden in Cinnamon Gardens also holds the National Museum of Natural History. Allow one to two hours, more with the natural history halls; it suits a rainy afternoon. As the crow flies, Viharamahadevi Park's centre is about 500 m north, Independence Memorial Hall 1 km south-east and the Lotus Tower 2 km north.
Back from Britain with the crown in 1934.
On UNESCO's Memory of the World Register since 2025.
A gift to a Kandyan king, back from the Netherlands in 2023.
Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo 7
Viharamahadevi ParkColombo's oldest and largest park, covering about 18 hectares in Cinnamon Garden6 minutes walk4.5
Independence Memorial HallA national monument in Independence Square in Colombo's Cinnamon Gardens, built 12 minutes walk4.7
Lotus TowerA 351.5-metre tower on the shore of Beira Lake in the heart of Colombo, among th24 minutes walk4.6Not the standard one: the National Museum of Natural History, set up in the same grounds on 23 September 1986, takes its own USD 5 ticket for foreign adults, or USD 8 buys a combined ticket for both, per the Department of National Museums.
Tradition holds that at the 1877 opening its Muslim builder, Wapchi Marikar, asked for Friday closing as his reward and the governor agreed. The architectural historian Ismeth Raheem calls the tale a legend; today the Department of National Museums lists the museum as open Tuesday to Sunday.