Museums, Colombo

Housed in a beautiful 19th century whitewashed British colonial mansion, the National Museum is a good chance to find out about the long and varied history of Sri Lanka. There are sculptures, carvings, paintings, pottery and fascinating everyday items from the ancient capitals of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy. The last Kandyan king's throne is on display, as well as a large exhibition of military history and ancient weaponry.

There is an archive of hundreds of thousands of priceless books and palm-leaf manuscripts documenting the history of the island. There's also a small Children's Museum, with live puppet shows at the weekend to keep the kids occupied.

The separate Natural History Museum is also housed here (but with its own entrance), taking a look at the country's non-human history with displays of fossils, rocks, natural resources and plant and animal life. There's a skeleton of a full-sized elephant, and the museum also looks at the incredible physical geography of Sri Lanka.

The ground floor of the National Museum has about a dozen rooms with a pretty good display of the history of Sri Lanka starting from prehistoric times, and a sculpture gallery. The history rooms are set up consistently, with information and artifacts on politics, literature, architecture, and a couple of other topics I can’t recall – not extensive, but a good overview. I recognized two of the pieces on display from art books.

Upstairs is weird. I got the sense that it wasn’t finished, although one sign on a display of masks said it had been there since 2003, so it’s not like they haven’t had time. The bits and pieces of the collection here are random – displays of marionettes and toys from France, India, Czechoslovakia, and three displays from Belgium in a room with the skeleton of a blue whale suspended over it all; common kitchen tools through the years; a collection of watercolors of Sri Lankan landscapes by an Englishman in the 1840s; huge 19th century copies of famous ancient Buddhist frescos, and so on.

Admission is Rs500, and you can’t take a camera or cell phone inside (you can check them at the door). Everyone’s shoes squeak on the first floor; the floors upstairs are wood parquet, so your shoes won’t squeak, but some of the pieces are loose, so you might trip.
The Natural History Museum is around the back, but I didn’t have time to check it out. There’s a small museum shop selling replicas and postcards at the gate. Open Sat – Thurs 9-5.

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Just near the exit is a tall glass-covered display unit at the top of which is a stark skeletal statue of the Buddha. This is a startling, compelling image and one that you will not forget in a hurry.

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This is the main Museum of the country build by the formor Chief of the country Sir, Willium Gregory, established 1877. in side the Museum yo can see millions of unforgettable sri lankan historic monuments and cultural heritages, Best known for its collection of antiques and objects of displaying the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka. For the visitor on a short tour, unable to visit the ancient cities of Sri Lanka, a visit to the Colombo Museum will give an idea of the history of the country and its people.

This is the main Museum of the country build by the formor Chief of the country Sir, Willium Gregory, established 1877. in side the Museum yo can see millions of unforgettable sri lankan historic monuments and cultural heritages, Best known for its collection of antiques and objects of displaying the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka. For the visitor on a short tour, unable to visit the ancient cities of Sri Lanka, a visit to the Colombo Museum will give an idea of the history of the country and its people.

Across the road from the park is the National Art Gallery. A rather thin collection of paintings it is nevertheless housed in a very grand building, with gilded eaves and some intriguing sculptures outside. Inside, the paintings are rather simply displayed but there is no explanation or brochure to fill you in on artists or subject. You can always try asking the attendant. There are some small sculptures, but there seems to be little noticeable reasoning to the way items are displayed, covering all epochs and artistic styles. The occasional special exhibition of local art is sometimes on offer.

The 150 years of Dutch dominance in Sri Lanka from 1640 to 1796 left an indelible impression on the country. The Pettah's Dutch Period Museum, housed in a handsome building of the era, traces the ups and downs of Dutch rule over the century and a half before the British usurped their European neighbours. The two-storey building was originally the Dutch town hall. The ground floor contains a varied collection of artefacts left behind by Dutch settlers, including weaponry and pieces of contemporary art.

The upper floor's rooms house many pieces of large furniture from the Dutch period. The rear of the building opens into a pleasant overgrown courtyard with a central well, surrounded on the other three sides by single-storey buildings. The one to the right as you enter the courtyard contains a collection of Dutch gravestones recovered from the cemetery in the Pettah.

To the rear of the National Museum is the National Natural History Museum. As you'd expect in a country boasting such natural diversity as Sri Lanka there is plenty of subject matter. You are directed through the collection via numbered galleries, with the first concentrating on the rather mundane flora, mineral wealth and landscape of the island - including some scale models of hydro-electric power schemes and discussion of the agricultural techniques employed throughout the nation.

The galleries upstairs cover rather more interesting subject matter, including stuffed indigenous birds and their eggs, although rather disappointingly, insects are only represented in drawings rather than models or preserved examples. Snakes are better represented, in pickled form. The more fearsome examples include the naja naja - or cobra to you or me - and the deadly Russell's viper. The large mammals are kept to last and are set out in a stuffed tableau. The leopard on-show here, as the note tells you, is a record breaker, having killed 11 villagers before finally being hunted down.