National Museum of Colombo
The Colombo Museum as it was called at the beginning was established on 1
st January 1877. It founder was Sir William Henry Gregory, the British Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at the time.
The Royal Asiatic Society (CB) was instrumental in bringing to the
notice of Gregory on his appointment as Governor in 1872 the need for a
public museum with much difficulty the approval of the legislative
council was obtained within a year. The Architect of the Public
Works Department, J.G. Smither was able to prepare the plans for new
structure on Italian architectural style. The construction was completed
in 1876 and the Museum commenced it functions in the following year.
The Authorities of the museum took various steps to display the cultural and natural heritage of the country for this purpose.
With the development of the museum to international level, it earned
the status of a national museum during the period of Dr. P. E. P.
Deraniyagala. He was able to open up branch museums in Jaffna, Kandy and
Ratnapura and a full - fledged Department of National Museums was
established in 1942 under the act No. 31. The extension of the number of
branch museums has now increased to nine and in addition a school
science programme and a mobile museum service are also in operation.
History
The Colombo museum as it was called at the beginning was established on 1 January 1877. It founder was Sir William Henry Gregory the British Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at the time. The Royal Asiatic Society
(CB) was instrumental in bringing to the notice of Gregory on his
appointment as Governor in 1872 the need for a public Museum with much
difficulty the approval of the legislative council was obtained within a
year. The Architect
of the Public Works Department, J. G. Smither was able to prepare the
plans for new structure on Italian Architectural style. The construction
was completed in 1876 and the Museum commenced it functions in the
following year.
The construction of the Museum was carried out by Arasi Marikar
Wapchie Marikar (born 1829, died 1925, aka Wapchi Marikar Bass, who was
descended from the Sheiq Fareed family who arrived in Ceylon in 1060
AD), paternal grandfather of Sir Razik Fareed, Kt., JPUM, OBE, MP (born,
29 December 1893, died 23 August 1984). Wapchi Marikar Bass was the
builder of the General Post Office in Colombo, Colombo Customs, Old Town
Hall in Pettah, Galle Face Hotel, Victoria Arcade, Finlay Moir
building, the Clock Tower, Batternburg Battery and many other buildings
that are still standing today (2011). The Old Town Hall in Pettah, which
is now a busy market, was built on a contract for the sum of 689
Streling Pounds.
In January 1877, the completed building of the Colombo Museum was
declared open by His Excellency, Governor Gregory, in the presence of a
large crowd, amongst which there were many Muslims present. At the end
of the ceremony, His Excellency asked Arasi Marikar Wapchi Marikar what
honour he wished to have for his dedication. The same question was asked
by His Excellency from the carpenter who assisted Wapchi Marikar with
the wood work of the Museum who desired a local Rank and was honoured
accordingly. Wapchi Marikar, noticing the large number of Muslims
present, feared that they would spend their time at the Museum on Friday
during the Islamic congregation prayer, and requested that the Museum
be closed on Fridays. This request has been adhered to by all
authorities in charge of the Museum to this day.
When the throne of the last Kandyan King was to be exhibited at the
Museum, the then Prime Minister, Mr. D.S.Senanayake, obtained the
consent of Sir Razik Fareed, Wapchi Marikar’s grandson, to keep the
Museum open on the intervening Fridays only.
During the period between 1877 and 1999, the authorities of the
museum took various steps to display the cultural and natural heritage
of the country for this purpose. Several other wings were added from
time to time under the direction of Dr. Arthur Willey and Dr. Joseph
Pearson new structures were built during the period of Dr. P. E. P.
Deraniyagala, Dr. P. H. D. H. de Silva and Sirinimal Lakdusinghe. One of
the natural history
museum, and yet another consists of the auditorium. These buildings
would facilitate the extension of the library ethnological and
Anthropological studies, etc.
With the development of the museum to international level, it earned
the status of a national museum during the period of Dr. P. E. P.
Deraniyagala. He was able to open up branch museums in Jaffna, Kandy,
and Rathnapura and a full – fledged department of national museum was
established in 1942 under the act No. 31. The extension of the number of
branch museums has now increased to nine and in addition a school
science programme and a mobile museum service are also in operation.
The installation of the crown jewels and the throne of the last King of Kandy which were handed over back to Sri Lanka by the British Government,
has greatly enhanced the quality of the museum collection. In spite of
the enormousness of the various collections thematic arrangement of the
galleries has provided and opportunity to visitors to study the ancient
culture of the Sri Lanka under one roof. This process has further been
improved by the arrangement of the galleries of the ground floor in a
historical sequence and those of the upper galleries on a thematic
basis.
Along with the Colombo National Museum, a library was also established on 1 January 1877. The government Oriental
library (1870) was incorporated in to Colombo National Museum library,
and served as the nucleus of the library collection by collecting the
local publications during the past 129 years; the library has been
functioning as an unofficial national library in Sri Lanka; became the
first legal Deposit library in the Island. This resulted in the
accumulation of a valuable collection of materials pertaining to Sri
Lanka. From its inception, special attention has been given to building
up of a collection related to Sri Lanka, Orientation and Natural
Science.
Source -
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