A building that’s impossible to miss when you visit the coastal area of downtown Colombo is the nation’s first Parliament building (a.k.a. the “Old Parliament Building”). Facing the Galle Face Green and the sea (and now the ever-growing Marina development complex), the building is situated on reclaimed land just south of the Fort District and World Trade Center towers. Initially the building was home to the Legislative Council of Ceylon and was witness to country’s transition from colonial state to self-rule in 1947.
Completed in 1930, this Neo-Baroque style building was home to the country’s legislature for 53 years. During the country’s prolonged Civil War, Parliament was moved to a a more secure complex in nearby Sri Jayawardenepura in 1983.
The building is now used by the Presidential Secretariat (Office of the President) of Sri Lanka. There is a lagoon which drains to the ocean immediately north of the building and it’s a good place to do some bird-watching.
For a list of DrFumblefingers blog posts on Sri Lanka, please click on this link.
