Culture & Living Traditions
Kelaniya
Western Province
A riverside temple just outside Colombo, said to have been visited by the Buddha, with some of the finest modern murals in the country.
- How long
- 1 day is usually enough
- Best months
- January, February, March, April, November, December
Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara is a short drive from Colombo and rarely on tourist itineraries, which is part of its appeal — it is busy with worshippers rather than visitors.
Tradition holds the Buddha preached here on his third visit to the island. The present temple is largely eighteenth century, rebuilt after Portuguese destruction.
The murals by Solias Mendis are the reason to come: painted in the 1930s and 40s, they tell the island’s history in a deliberately Sri Lankan style developed as a reaction against colonial art teaching. They are among the finest paintings in the country and almost nobody sees them.
Photographs of Kelaniya
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