Visit Ambalangoda – West Coast of Sri Lanka
The town of Ambalangoda, located 86 km (54 miles) south from Colombo is most famous as the centre of the island’s mask carvers, the people responsible for the luridly painted images of demons and other figures which were originally used in performance of southern kolam and exorcism dances, and which have now found new life as tourist souvenirs. Two mask museums stand opposite one another at the northern end of town. The larger and more interesting of the two is the Ariyapala and Sons Mask Museum (open daily, 8.30am-5.30pm; entrance charge), which has interesting displays explaining the meanings and traditions behind the masks. The shop above has a huge selection of masks and wood carvings, and you can also watch carvers at work in the attached workshop. Directly opposite, the more modest Ariyapala Traditional Masks (daily, 5am-5pm) has a basement display featuring some impressively large masks, although the main focus is the shop upstairs. There are various other mask-carving workshops dotted around town where you can watch local artisans at work and explore the full range of Sri Lankan mask styles. Southland Masks, at 353 Main Road, a few minutes walk south of the mask museums has a particularly tine selection.
Opportunities to see the masks being used in the dances for which they were originally designed are sadly difficult to come by. The Bandu Wijesuriya School of Dance, opposite and under the same management as the Ariyapala and Sons Mask Museum, sometimes stages performances of traditional Kandyan and Low Country dances during the tourist season (Nov–Apr). liven if nothing formal is scheduled, some of the school’s 250 pupils are put through their paces every afternoon from around 3pm for an hour or so, and rehearsals are open to visitors.