An old Dutch Bell Tower (Sinhala: ගාලු කොටුව ඕලන්ද ඝණ්ඨාර කුළුණ) is located near the Maritime Museum building in the ancient Galle Fort, Sri Lanka.
History
Evidence is there to show that the bell tower was built in 1701 during the Dutch Period spanning from 1658 to 1796 A.D. (Abeyawardana, 2004; Ranchagoda, 2015). It is said that this was the belfry of the old church that had been established on the premises of the present-day old store building before the construction of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1754 (Ranchagoda, 2015). The bell had been used in earlier times to indicate the time, signalling special occasions/events and alerting communities during emergencies (Ranchagoda, 2015).
A view of the bell tower is found in Johann Wolfgang Heydt's (1716-1777 A.D.) painting titled "View of the courtyard of the castle of Punto Gale (1737)".
See Also
#) Bambalapitiya Bell Tower
#) Kayman's Gate Bell Tower
References
1) Abeyawardana, H.A.P., 2004. Heritage of Ruhuna: Major natural, cultural and historic sites. Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka. ISBN: 955-575-073-4. p.21.
2) Ranchagoda, T. O., 2015. Pauranika Sthana Ha Smaraka: Galla Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka. ISBN:955-9159-53-4. p.51.
