Famous Landmarks in Colombo
A coastal capital pairing colonial civic halls with a red mosque and a 1953 monument.
Colombo's landmarks trace the city's shift from colonial port to national capital. Made the capital when the island was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, it acquired the civic buildings that colonial administration required: the neoclassical Town Hall, completed in 1928 opposite Viharamahadevi Park, was chosen from 32 competition entries to house the municipal council, a mayor's office and a library. In the old trading quarter of Pettah, the Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, built in 1909 in the Indo-Saracenic style and predominantly red in colour, has stood among the district's commercial streets for over a century. After independence in 1948, Cinnamon Gardens gained a different kind of building, the 1953 Independence Memorial Hall, raised on the exact site where self-rule began.
Colombo Town Hall
1928 · S. J. Edwards
A neoclassical civic building that fronts a large public park, its symmetrical form picked from 32 entries in an open design competition rather than drawn up by a single appointed architect.
Completed in 1928 in a neoclassical style, this building serves as the headquarters of the Colombo Municipal Council and the office of the mayor. Its construction followed a 1921 recommendation from town planner Patrick Geddes that the council build a dignified central municipal building with a council chamber, mayor's office and public library. An international design competition held in 1922 drew 32 entries; the winning scheme was submitted by S. J. Edwards of the firm Ralph Booty & Co. The building stands opposite Viharamahadevi Park.
- The public library the hall was meant to include was instead housed in a separate donated building, Sirinivasa, which today serves as the mayor's official residence.
- The winning design was picked from 32 submissions in an international competition held in 1922.
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Jolle~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque
1909 · H. L. Saibo Lebbe
Coloured predominantly red — the source of its everyday nickname, the Red Mosque or Rathu Palliya — and built in the Indo-Saracenic style on a street in an old trading quarter.
Built in 1909 to a design by H. L. Saibo Lebbe, this mosque stands on Second Cross Street in the Pettah district and ranks among the oldest in the city. Its Indo-Saracenic architecture and overwhelmingly red exterior have earned it several local names, including Samman Kottu Palli, Rathu Palliya and simply the Red Mosque. It is a popular stop for visitors exploring Pettah's older streets.
- It is known locally by at least four different names, including Samman Kottu Palli and Rathu Palliya, alongside its official name.
Photo: Aksam Zarook (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Independence Memorial Hall
1953
A statue of the country's first prime minister, D. S. Senanayake, stands at the head of the hall, which occupies a square in Cinnamon Gardens and today also contains a museum.
Completed in 1953, this national monument stands in Independence Square, Cinnamon Gardens, on the site where Sri Lanka's first parliament opened under home rule on 4 February 1948, with Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester presiding. A statue of the country's first prime minister, D. S. Senanayake, stands at the head of the hall. Beyond hosting annual independence-day ceremonies, the building served as the assembly chamber for the Senate and House of Representatives until parliament relocated, and it now also houses the Independence Memorial Museum.
- The building served for years as the actual assembly chamber for Ceylon's Senate and House of Representatives, not only as a monument.
- It stands on the exact spot where Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, opened the first parliament in 1948.
Photo: Charaka Ranasinghe (CC BY 2.0)
History
Colombo became the island's capital in 1815, when Ceylon was ceded to the British Empire, and the city's older civic buildings date from the decades of colonial rule that followed. The Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, built in 1909 by H. L. Saibo Lebbe in the Pettah trading quarter, and the Town Hall, completed in 1928 after an international design competition, both belong to this period of British administration. Colombo kept its status as capital when Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, an event marked five years later by the Independence Memorial Hall of 1953, raised on the square where the first parliament under self-rule convened. In 1978, when the country's administrative functions moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was redesignated the commercial capital, a role its status as the island's financial centre still carries today.