The Jaffna Library is the second largest public library in Sri Lanka located in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

, Northern Province,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It was considered the largest library in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

in the pre-1980s. Like many great libraries of the world, this library was destroyed by fire in the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. In this library, there were many ancient Tamil manuscripts, ancient copperplates, ancient medical records, Sinhalese ancient texts, British Sri Lankan history sources, 97000 books and other historical evidences were destroyed in the library fire in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

History

In the 15th century, when the Tamilnadu region was invaded by Delhi, many ancient tamil manuscripts were brought to Jaffna by boat and stored. K. M Chellappa started a rental library in a small room with his 844 books and 30 magazines. Then he rented a room at Hospital Road Jaffna for Rs 25. This made the library popular. In 1935, the Jaffna Municipal Council transferred this library to the Municipal Hall and started storing many more books. In 1952, the then Mayor Sabapati wanted to build a large library and Madras Provincial Chief Architect V.Narasimman plotted the architect map for library. . During the early 1980s, it was one of the biggest libraries in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts. Over a million books burned in the 1981 arson attack. Some ancient Sinhala and Tamil books were never recovered. In 2001, rehabilitation of the library was completed, with new structures being built and new books received, although its old books and manuscripts were not replaced. It is Sri Lanka's second main public Library, only rivalled by

Colombo Public Library Colombo Public Library is the largest public library in Sri Lanka, located in Colombo 07, Sri Lanka. History The first public library in the country was the 'United Service Library', which was established in 1813. It was exclusively used by civ ...

The building's classical lines and beautiful proportions make it stand out architecturally. It contains lush gardens and has been modernized with new facilities such as free-wifi that was added in 2016{{Cite news , last=SureshikaThilakarathna , title=Free Wi-Fi from today at 26 public locations in Sri Lanka , url=http://www.news.lk/news/business/item/6854-free-wi-fi-from-today-at-26-public-locations-in-sri-lanka , access-date=2017-01-09

References

1933 establishments in Ceylon Cultural buildings in Jaffna Libraries in Jaffna District Tourist attractions in Northern Province, Sri Lanka

History

See Also

References