Gangaramaya Temple is a prominent Buddhist temple complex near Beira Lake in Colombo that serves as a centre of worship, education, and cultural heritage.

The temple was founded in 1885 by the scholar-monk Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Nayaka Thera and features a blend of Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian, and Chinese architectural styles.

Key features include the Vihara Mandiraya, a white stupa, a sacred Bodhi tree, and Seema Malaka, the floating assembly hall on Beira Lake.

The Vihara Mandiraya houses numerous Buddha statues, a relic chamber, and spaces for daily rituals, while the Bodhi tree is believed to be a sapling of the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura.

The temple complex also functions as an educational and cultural centre, with a museum displaying Buddha statues from various countries, ancient coins, antiques, and historical artefacts, alongside a library preserving rare books and Buddhist manuscripts.

Additional facilities include educational halls, a three-storey pirivena for monastic education, residential quarters, and spaces for alms-giving and communal activities.

Each year, Gangaramaya hosts the Navam Perahera, a major religious procession featuring decorated elephants, traditional dancers, drummers, and a tusker carrying the sacred relic casket.

Viharamahadevi Park is the largest and oldest park in Colombo, covering about 40 acres near the Town Hall in Cinnamon Gardens.

The park was established on land donated by philanthropist Charles Henry de Soysa during the British colonial era and was originally called the Circular Garden before being renamed Victoria Park in 1887 to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.

In 1958, park was renamed Viharamahadevi Park in honour of Queen Viharamahadevi, the mother of King Dutugemunu, during the Buddha Jayanti celebrations.

The park contains about two kilometres of paved paths that support walking, jogging, and cycling.

A notable feature is a 15-foot Buddha statue in the Samadhi pose, installed in 1972 to replace an earlier statue of Queen Victoria.

The Cenotaph War Memorial is also located in the park, commemorating military personnel who died in the First and Second World Wars.

Seema Malaka is a Buddhist meditation temple part of the Gangaramaya Temple complex.

Located on Beira Lake, the temple was originally built in the late 19th century and functions as a space for meditation rather than a place for formal worship.

After the original structure began sinking into the lake in the 1970s, the site was fully rebuilt when philanthropist S. H. Moosajee and his wife funded the project in memory of their son, Ameer S. Moosajee.

It was designed by the renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa with three interconnected platforms that appear to float on the water, drawing on Kandyan-era architectural motifs and the principles of Tropical Modernism.

The central platform contains the main meditation hall, surrounded by Buddha statues in various seated poses.

To the north is the “Treasury of Truth,” a library of sacred Buddhist texts mainly reserved for monastic use, while the southern platform centres on a Bodhi tree grown from a sapling of the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura.

Seema Malaka also reflects Sri Lanka’s tradition of religious coexistence, as the temple includes shrines dedicated to Hindu deities such as Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha, Kataragama Deviyo, and Guanyin alongside Buddhist imagery.

The Colombo National Museum in Cinnamon Gardens is Sri Lanka’s oldest and largest museum, preserving the nation’s cultural, historical and natural heritage across more than 2,500 years.

The museum was established in 1877 by British Governor Sir William Henry Gregory, with the building completed in 1876 and opened to the public the following year.

It was designated the National Museum of Sri Lanka in 1942, a change that led to the creation of the Department of National Museums and the establishment of several branch museums across the country.

Ground floor galleries display archaeological artefacts in chronological order, including prehistoric tools, urn burials and stone and bronze sculptures from the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy periods, with notable pieces such as the 9th-century Tholuwila Buddha statue.

Upper floor galleries focus on cultural and artistic heritage, featuring royal regalia of King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, ritual masks, traditional weapons, textiles, lacquerware, coins and palm-leaf manuscripts that illustrate social and ceremonial traditions.

The museum also houses the National Museum Library, originally the Government Oriental Library, which contains rare books and manuscripts in Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Burmese.

Adjacent to the museum is the National Museum of Natural History, opened in 1986, which showcases endemic flora and fauna, fossils and geological models.

Pettah Market, also known as Manning Market, is a large open-air marketplace in the Pettah suburb of Colombo and functions as a major trading hub for both wholesale and retail goods.

The market dates back to the colonial period and continues to attract large numbers of traders, shoppers and visitors, reflecting its role as one of the city’s busiest commercial districts.

The area is laid out in a dense grid of narrow streets stretching from the harbour toward Colombo’s main railway station, with the Fort district to the west and Beira Lake to the south.

The western entrance to Pettah is marked by the Khan Clock Tower, a prominent landmark built by the Parsi family of Framjee Bhickajee Khan.

Main Street runs through the centre of Pettah and serves as the district’s primary commercial artery, with numbered cross streets from First Cross Street to Fifth Cross Street that each specialise in particular types of goods.

Other streets form specialised trading zones, including Prince Street, Maliban Street, Keyzer Street and China Street, while Sea Street is known as Colombo’s main centre for gold and jewellery trading.

Pettah is also home to notable historic buildings such as the Colombo Old Town Hall and Museum at Kayman’s Gate, built by Muslim merchant Arasi Marikar Wapchie Marikar, which now houses a post office on the ground floor and a museum above with an outdoor display of old steam engines.

Another major landmark in the area is the Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, commonly known as the Red Mosque.

Independence Square is a monument in Colombo’s Cinnamon Gardens district built to commemorate Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule in 1948 and serves as a major ceremonial and public space.

The site was originally known as Torrington Square during the colonial period and later became a focal point for national celebrations and official events.

Independence Square hosts Sri Lanka’s annual Independence Day celebrations and has been used for state funerals and other national ceremonies, with its open layout supporting large public gatherings.

The Independence Memorial Hall, completed in 1957, was designed by a team of eight architects led by T. N. Wynne Jones and is inspired by the Magul Maduwa of the Kingdom of Kandy, featuring an open-sided hall with carved cement columns and a tiered tiled roof.

A statue of D. S. Senanayake, Sri Lanka’s first Prime Minister, stands at the head of the Memorial Hall, flanked by four seated lion figures inspired by medieval Kingdom of Yapahuwa carvings, reinforcing the site’s national symbolism.

The Independence Memorial Museum, established in 2008 in the hall’s basement, presents exhibits on the independence movement, political history and the transition to self-governance.

The grounds also include a 1.9-kilometre walking track and a 0.8-kilometre cycling loop, which are widely used by the public for exercise and leisure.

The Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct in Colombo Fort is one of the city’s oldest surviving colonial buildings and has been restored as a major retail and dining destination.

Originally constructed in the late 17th century during Dutch rule, the building served as a hospital for officers and staff of the Dutch East India Company.

Over time, the site was adapted for several administrative uses, including serving as the Colombo Fort Police Station during the 1980s and 1990s, and its continuous use contributed to its preservation within the Fort area.

The architecture retains key features of Dutch colonial design, including thick masonry walls, massive timber beams, terracotta-tiled floors and deep surrounding verandas, with a square layout organised around two internal courtyards to allow natural light and ventilation.

In 2011, the building was restored and repurposed as a lifestyle and commercial precinct, preserving its original character while introducing modern infrastructure for retail and hospitality.

Today the Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct hosts boutique shops, cafés and restaurants offering a mix of Sri Lankan and international cuisine, and it has become a popular gathering place for residents and visitors.

The Old Parliament Building in Colombo Fort is a colonial-era structure facing the Indian Ocean near Galle Face Green and was completed in 1930 during British rule.

Designed by architect Austin Woodeson in the Neo-Baroque style, the building features a symmetrical façade, grand Ionic columns and classical detailing that reflect the architectural language of imperial governance.

For more than five decades, the building served as the centre of Sri Lanka’s legislative and executive life, hosting the State Council of Ceylon from 1931 to 1947 under the Donoughmore Constitution.

Following independence in 1947, it became the seat of the House of Representatives and later accommodated the National State Assembly between 1972 and 1977, continuing to host parliamentary sessions until 1981.

After the legislature moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the building was repurposed in 1983 as the Presidential Secretariat, housing the Office of the President and serving as the venue for official state and diplomatic ceremonies.

The surrounding formal gardens enhance the building’s stately presence and include bronze statues of leading figures in Sri Lanka’s political history, notably the country’s first Prime Minister, D. S. Senanayake.

Galle Face Green is a five-hectare ocean-side urban park in central Colombo that stretches about 500 metres along the western coastline of the Indian Ocean.

The area dates back to the Dutch colonial period, when it served as an open defensive ground for cannons at Colombo Fort, and was later transformed under British rule into a recreational space with promenades and organised sports.

The promenade was authorised in 1856 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward and completed in 1859, marking the start of its development as a public leisure area.

The park provides paved walkways, seating areas and open spaces used for walking, games and general recreation.

Galle Face Green is also known for its street food culture, with vendors offering local favourites such as kottu, isso vadai, fried snacks, seafood and sliced mango with chilli and salt.

The park attracts families, tourists and residents for casual dining, outdoor games and social interaction, and its open layout and western orientation make it a popular spot for sunsets, photography and evening strolls.

Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya is an ancient and revered Buddhist temple located on the banks of the Kelani River in Kelaniya, northeast of Colombo, and it is traditionally linked to the Buddha’s final visit to Sri Lanka.

Buddhist tradition holds that the Buddha preached the Dhamma at the site from a gem-studded throne to the Naga kings, a story that has secured Kelaniya’s status as one of the country’s sixteen sacred places and a major pilgrimage destination.

The temple’s medieval structure was destroyed by Portuguese forces in 1510, but it was revived in the 18th century under King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha and later refurbished in the 20th century through the patronage of Helena Wijewardene.

The complex reflects classical Sri Lankan Buddhist architecture with strong Kandyan influences, and its key buildings include the Aluth Vihara Ge, which stands on a stone platform and features a Kandyan-style roof, as well as multiple image houses with Makara Thorana gateways and intricate stone carvings.

At the centre of the temple is the Kalyani Chaithyaya, also known as the Kelani Seya, a white stupa about 27 metres high built in the Dhanyakara, or rice-heap, style, and believed to enshrine the sacred throne from which the Buddha preached, along with related relics.

The temple is also noted for its extensive murals and sculptures, including the Oth Pilima Ge which houses a large reclining Buddha statue, and interior walls that display celebrated paintings by Solias Mendis depicting Jataka episodes and significant events from Sri Lankan Buddhist history.

Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya hosts the annual Duruthu Maha Perahera each January to commemorate the Buddha’s visit, with a procession featuring traditional drumming, dancing and decorated elephants that draws large crowds of devotees and visitors.