For a country steeped in History, Sri Lanka offers numerous musuems scattered across the island. Sri Lanka’s history for starters, pre-dates Christianity with the arrival of Buddhism to the island, was a key destination of the spice trade routes, was colonised by the Dutch, Portuguese and the English for centuries and now lives to display this vibrant and resilient culture.

Hence, the perfect place to discover the mysteries of ancient Lanka, is to pay a visit to few of its many Museums.

Visit the Colombo National Musuem

The museum building itself is remarkable. Located in the very heart of the plush suburb of Colombo 7, the building is a key landmarrk of the city. Built in 1877 by the then British Governor Sir William Henry Gregory the building was designed in the gradeur of the Italian architectural style.

The artefacts and treasures this museum houses is truly invaluable.

The Dutch Museum in Colombo Fort

The Dutch ruled the coastal regions of Sri Lanka from the period of 1658 – 1796. During this time the Dutch colonies developed the island’s coastal regions with many remarkable fortresses (main fort being the Galle Dutch Fort which is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and stregnth its domination with in the regional as a martime super power.

The Dutch Museum, is a stunning 17^th century mansion built in Dutch archetiecture as the official residence for Thomas Van Rhee, the Governor of Lanka at the time. The British then has used this building to store arms for its Army Hospital, as a police training centre and then later it was the Pettah Post Office and Telecommunication center. In 1977 the government of Netherlands assisted the Sri Lanka government to establish and dedicate this building as the Dutch Museum. Today the museum displays over 3000 priceless artefacts in relation to the Dutch rule in Sri Lanka.

The display and the collection is truly unique and quite interesting to say the least.

National Museum, Kandy

This building established during Sri Wickrama Rajasingha era was then known as “Palle Vahala” This was used as the palace where the Queens of the king lived. This building has been built according to the architectural features of Kandy period. This pallevahala building was used to deposit the various items of historical value made by Kandy Art Association established in 1832 and technicians of Matale district. This was opened for the public as a museum.

This museum has over 5000 museum objects which are depicting various aspects historical and cultural events of the Kandyan period. (17-19 century A.D.)