Visit Gangaramaya, a Buddhist temple set on a lake

Wishing to preach the teachings of the Buddha in his own country, Don Bastian, a Sri Lankan shipping merchant, regularly brought Buddhist monks from ancient Burma to help him convince his people. In 1885*, the merchant bought a piece of marshland in Colombo. He wanted to build a temple to house the Sri Lankan monk **Matara Sri Nanarama Maha Thera, whom he greatly admired. He had the land drained and spent a fortune building the Gangaramaya Temple.

The sacred tree, or more precisely the bodhi representing the Buddha's awakening, was transported from the Mahamewna gardens to Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka's holy city, and is now a central feature of the Colombo temple. The temple was gradually built in the late 1800s. Its architecture, inspired by a combination of Sri Lankan, Chinese, Indian and Thai architecture, is atypical and rare. The temple is located a stone's throw from Beira Lake, right in the middle of the city of Colombo.

The Seema Malakaya Temple, located on Lake Beira, is attached to the Gangaramaya Temple. The floating platform is very soft and soothing. After first sinking in the lake in 1976, Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa undertook the reconstruction.

The reclining Buddha, emblematic of the temple, was financed by a Muslim patron. The Gangaramaya temple complex reflects Sri Lanka's inter-religious tolerance.

Geoffrey Bawa, famous Sri Lankan architect

Geoffrey Bawa is a famous architect born in Colombo. After starting his career in London, he worked on a number of projects, including the New Parliament of Sri Lanka in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.

The most important religious event in Colombo takes place every February. The Navam Perahera festival brings thousands of Sri Lankans together in the streets around the temple. A gigantic procession, led by elephants, parades through the main streets. The elephants are decorated with textiles and paintings, and carry relics of Buddha on their backs.