Royal Palace of Kandy

Royal Palace of Kandy
The Royal Palace of Kandy or Royal Palace of Senkadagala (Sinhala: සෙංකඩගල රජ මාලිගාව) is located to the north of the Temple of the Tooth, Sri Lanka. It is locally called Maha Wasala, the traditional name used for the royal palace of the king since the time of King Parakramabahu I (1153-1186 A.D.) of the Polonnaruwa Period (Abeyawardana, 2004).

History
The royal palace at Kandy was built by King Wimaladharmasuriya I [(1592-1604 A.D.) Abeyawardana, 2004]. Since then, it was the royal residence of the Kandyan Monarch until the last king of the country, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1798-1815 A.D.). After the Kandy was handed over to the British throne by signing the Kandyan Convention in March 1815, the palace building was used by Sir John D'Oyly, the 1st Baronet of Kandy from 1821 to 1824 as his official residence (Abeyawardana, 2004).

Presently, a section of this palace building is used to house the Kandy Archaeological Museum.

The palace building
The Maha Wasala was the main building of the royal palace complex that also included the Magul Maduwa (royal audience hall), Meda Wasala (queen's palace), Palle Vahala (king's harem quarters) and Ulpange (queen's bathing pavilion). It is a long building of rectangular in shape. It has been reconstructed and renovated several times by Kandyan kings and therefore, the appearance of the original palace has been altered by today. However, the section of the palace that faces the Natha Devalaya is said to be the oldest portion of this building (Abeyawardana, 2004; Rajapakse, 2016). 

See also

Attribution
1) SL Kandy asv2020-01 img43 Royal Palace by A.Savin is under the Free Art License 1.3
References
1) Abeyawardana, H.A.P., 2004. Heritage of Kandurata: Major natural, cultural and historic sites. Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka. pp.17-18.
2) Rajapakse, S., 2016. Pauranika Sthana Ha Smaraka: Mahanuwara Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka. ISBN:955-9159-34-8. pp.9-10.

Location Map
This page was last updated on 2 July 2022

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