Description of the attraction
The Kandy National Museum is located next to the Temple of the Tooth Relic, in part of the former royal palace of Kandy. The bulk of the exhibits are located in the Palle Wahal building, which served as the home of the king's concubines, and now houses a huge number of royal relics, including thrones, scepters and ceremonial swords, dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Another part of the exhibits is located in the main building of the palace.
Palle Wahala was used as a repository for historical artifacts made by the Kandy Art Association, established in 1832, and the Matale artisans. The museum was opened to the public in 1942.
This museum, which once housed the royal harem, now has royal insignia and reminders of pre-European Sinhalese life. Exhibits include weapons, jewelry, tools and other items from the era when Kandy was the capital and after the British colonial era. On the grounds of the museum is a statue of Sir Henry Ward, the former governor of Ceylon, which was originally found opposite the Queen's hotel.
The auditorium, featuring tall columns supporting the roof, was the site of the Kandy Leaders' Congress, at which it was decided in 1815 to cede power to Great Britain. There is an agreement signed in 1815 on the transfer of control of the province of Kandy to Great Britain. In this document, one of the main reasons for the transfer of the province is: "the cruelty and oppression of the ruler of Malabar, in the arbitrary and unjust infliction of bodily torture, pain and death without trial or investigation, and sometimes without accusation or the possibility of committing a crime, and in general contempt and violation of all civil rights have become egregious, enormous and unbearable. " Sri Vikrama Rajasinhi declared: "due to non-observance of traditions and the sacred duty of the monarch, power in the province of Kandy was entrusted to the sovereign British Empire."
The National Museum, along with the Archaeological Museum, four temples and two monasteries, together constitute one of the objects in the so-called cultural triangle of Sri Lanka (the tops of the triangle form three ancient capitals: Kandy, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa).
