The Old Welekade Market ( si, වෙලේකඩේ පැරණි වෙළඳ ගොඩනැගිල්ල) is a historic colonial building in

Badulla Badulla ( si, බදුල්ල, ta, பதுளை) is the capital and the largest city of Uva Province situated in the lower central hills of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Uva Province and the Badulla District. Geography Badulla is ...

, Sri Lanka. The site belonged to the Badulla Divisional Secretariat division and is located near the Badulla Hospital, on the

Bandarawela Bandarawela ( Sinhala : බණ්ඩාරවෙල, pronounced ; Tamil: பண்டாரவெல) is the second largest town in the Badulla District which is away from Badulla. Bandarawela is away from Colombo and about away from Kand ...

road. The history about the construction of Welekade market building is unclear, with many people believing that it was erected by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

as a kind of castle or fortress. According to more reliable sources the building was constructed by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in 1889, as the first public building in the

Uva province Uva Province ( si, ඌව පළාත, Uva Paḷāta, ta, ஊவா மாகாணம், Uvā Mākāṇam) is Sri Lanka's second least populated province, with 1,259,880 people, created in 1896. It consists of two districts: Badulla and M ...

. Due to its historical importance, the Welekade building has been formally recognised by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

as an archaeological protected monument. The designation was declared on 6 June 2008 under the government

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number 1553.

History

On 1 February 1886 the British government proclaimed Uva as a separate province of Ceylon and A. A. King was appointed as the new government agent for the province. As a benefit of closer relationship with the central government, King arranged for a new market building to be constructed in Badulla in 1889, three years after the proclamation of the province. It is said that the cost for the construction of the building was 5000

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

. The further advantages gained by the province were construction of a new hospital and a

Kachcheri A kachcheri or district secretariat is the principal government department that administrates a district in Sri Lanka. Each of the 25 districts has a kachcheri. The main tasks of the District Secretariat involve coordinating communications and a ...

building in close proximity to the market in 1890, and 1891 respectively. The market has been built on the escarpment near a paddy field, and thus it may have resulted in its name, Welekade (shop of the paddy field). The building is said to be the first structure built under an autonomous province.

Building

The market building has British architectural features, which can not be found anywhere in the country. The building was built in the shape of

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

with a central high roof with a lower roof over the four entrances. The inner space layout consists of an octagonal shaped central compound with four corridors. The corridors are built at right angles to each other. The centre of the building is an open space which rises up to a turret.

References

Notes

* {{Refend British colonial architecture in Sri Lanka Archaeological protected monuments in Badulla District Tourist attractions in Badulla District Buildings and structures in Badulla

History

Building

See also

References

Notes