The National Museum of Galle (Galle National Museum) is one of the national museums of Sri Lanka. It is located in the oldest remaining Dutch building in the

Galle fort Galle Fort ( si, ගාලු කොටුව ''Galu Kotuwa''; ta, காலிக் கோட்டை, translit=Kālik Kōṭṭai), in the Bay of Galle on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese, then ex ...

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

, a single storey

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

d Dutch building built in 1656 as the commissariat store for the Dutch garrison at the fort. It subsequently served as a

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

room for the adjoining New Oriental Hotel (now the

Amangalla Amangalla is a 5-star franchise hotel belonging to the international group of Aman Resorts, located in Galle, Sri Lanka built within Galle Fort, the 17th-century Dutch fort, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Just to its north is the ...

Hotel). The building was renovated by the Department of National Museums and opened on 31 March 1986. The museum houses a limited collection of exhibits from the Portuguese, Dutch and British periods. It has three main galleries, the first contains collections relating to the area's cottage industries, primarily turtle shell jewellery manufacturing, Beeralu lace weaving and traditional wooden mask carving. The second contains a collection of Dutch period furniture and

weaponry A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

. The final gallery, the 'Sri Lanka China Friendship Gallery', was opened on 10 September 2013. It is dedicated to the historical and archeological evidence of trade relations between China and Sri Lanka, with displays on the Chinese Buddhist monk

Faxian Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...

(337 – c. 422 CE) and the 14th Century Fleet Admiral

Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferr ...

(1371 – 1433).

References

{{authority control Cultural buildings in Galle Dutch colonial architecture in Sri Lanka Museums in Galle District National museums of Sri Lanka History museums in Sri Lanka

See also

References