On Monday I showed you several Hindu artifacts contained within the walls of the Colombo National Museum, but there are also Buddhist icons here as well. The image above is quite a famous one. The Statue of Tara shown above is a replica of the original looted by the British. The original was “gifted” to England in the 1830s by the Governor of Ceylon at the time, General Sir Robert Brownrigg, and that original is currently on display in the British Museum. The depicts the Buddhist Goddess Tara. It’s an impressive 4 ft. 8 in./143cm tall. Unfortunately, this replica is merely gold painted bronze rather than made using the original’s gilt-bronze craftsmanship.
I also mentioned on Monday that the museum contains regalia from the Kandyan monarchs who ruled the Kingdom of Kandy (present day Sri Lanka) from 1590 until the British overthrew the monarchy in 1815. The Kandyan Royal Throne shown above was gifted by the Dutch to the Kandyan King Vimaladharmasuriya II sometime around 1692-1693. At the invitation of the Kandyan Monarchy, in order to combat Portuguese rule, the Dutch East India Company controlled the coastal areas of Ceylon from 1640 until 1796, at which time they were displaced by the British. Another artifact from the days of joint Kandyan rule is the exquisitely ornate (bronze cast barrel with gold, silver, and rubies) ceremonial Lewke’s Canon, which the Dutch took in 1765 and only got around to returning to Sri Lanka in 2023:
Another pair of Kandyan artifacts that piqued my interest also date back to 1765. These are a pair of massive Maha Thuwakku, or wall guns.
Ursula loves old chests, so I photographed this next item at her request. It once belonged to Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last Kandyan monarch.
I’ll finish up today with this small photo gallery/slide show collection:
Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
