Maduwanwela Walawwa

Maduwanwela Walawwa (Sinhala: මඩුවන්වෙල වලව්ව) is an old manor house situated in Kolonna in Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka.

History

The history of Maduwanwela Walawwa runs back to the reign of King Vimaladharmasuriya II (1687-1707 A.D.). A building is said to have been erected at this site by Maduwanwela Maha Mohottala in about 1700. It was transformed into a permanent residence by Mudaliyar Maduwanwela Wijesundara Ekanayaka by paving the roof of it with Sinhala Ulu (round clay tiles) during the time of King Sri Vira Parakrama Narendra Singha (1707–1739 A.D.). The house was finally occupied by Sir James William Maduwanwela alias Maduwanwela Disawa [(1844-1930 A.D.) Abeyawardana, 2002].

In 1974, the building was taken over by the Department of Archaeology (Abeyawardana, 2002).

The building

The present building has 43 rooms and 7 inner courtyards (Abeyawardana, 2002). However, during the early stages, it is said to have comprised of 121 rooms and 21 inner courtyards (Abeyawardana, 2002).

A protected site

The Maduwanwela Walawwa situated in Maduwanwela, in the Divisional Secretary’s Division  of Kolonna is an archaeological protected monument, declared by a government gazette notification published on 20 September 1974.

Attribution

1) Royal Palace Maduwanwela Walawwa - මඩුවන්වෙල වලව්ව 2012 by Pol van den Scheetekens is licensed under CC BY 3.0

References

1) Abeyawardana, H.A.P., 2002. Heritage of Sabaragamuwa: Major natural, cultural and historic sites. Sabaragamuwa Development Bank and The Central Bank of Sri Lanka. ISBN: 955-575-077-7.  p.36.
2) The government gazette notification, no: 130. 20 September 1974.

Location Map

This page was last updated on 21 June 2022
For a complete tourist map follow this link: Lankapradeepa Tourist Map