St. Lucia's Cathedral, Kotahena

St. Lucia's Cathedral, Kotahena

St. Lucia's Cathedral (Sinhala: කොටහේන ශාන්ත ලුසියා ආසන දෙව්මැදුර; Tamil: புனித லூசியா பேராலயம்) is a Roman Catholic church situated at No. 119, Bon Jean Rd in Kotahena in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. Named after the Virgin and Martyr Saint Lucy,  the cathedral is considered the oldest and largest parish cathedral in the country (Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016). It is also the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Colombo.  History The church that is believed to have been established in the early 1760s in a thatched hut was granted a plot of land of 10 acres in Kotahena in 1779 by the Dutch who had control of several coastal regions in Sri Lanka during the period 1658-1796 (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009; Manathunga, 2016; Rajapakshe et al., 2018). A church building of brick and mortar was erected on this land in 1782 by the priests, Nicholas Rodriguez and Cosmo Antonio (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009; Rajapakshe et al., 2018; Welandawe & Weerasi…