Colombo - Sri Lanka - page 118

It's slightly comic and ghoulish, especially given the green glow from the stained glass.
Views from the windows put you above the hubbub outside.
Pettah Hindu Temples TEMPLES
Known as kovils, Hindu temples are numerous in Colombo, with a particularly high con-
centration in Pettah. On Sea St, the goldsmiths' street, Old Kathiresan Kovil ( MAP
GOOGLE MAP ;Sea St, Col 11; 6am-6pm) and New Kathiresan Kovil ( MAP GOOGLE MAP
;Sea St, Col 11; 6am-6pm) are both dedicated to the war god Murugan (Skanda), and are
the starting point for the annual Hindu Vel festival held in July/August, when the huge vel
(trident) chariot is dragged to various kovils on Galle Rd in Bambalapitiya.
Pettah Mosques MOSQUES
In the heart of Pettah, the decorative 1909 Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ;
cnr 2nd Cross & Bankshall Sts , Col 11) is a show-stopper with its candy-striped red-and-white
brickwork. Guards will usually let you in for a look, except during peak prayer times on
Friday. Afterwards have a coffee at one of the Halal cafes across the way. The modern
Grand Mosque ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; New Moor St, Col 11) is the most important of Co-
lombo's many mosques.
Wolvendaal Church CHURCH
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Wolvendaal Lane, Col 11; 9am-4pm)
The 1749 Wolvendaal Church is the most important Dutch building in Sri Lanka. When
the church was built, this area was a wilderness beyond the city walls. The Europeans mis-
took the packs of roaming jackals for wolves, and the area became known as Wolf's Dale,
or Wolvendaal in Dutch. The church is in the form of a Greek cross, with walls 1.5m thick,
but the real treasure is its Dutch furniture.
The Dutch governors had a special pew made with elegant carved ebony chairs, and the
workmanship in the wooden pulpit, baptismal font and lectern is just as beautiful. The
stone floor includes the elaborate tombstones to long-forgotten Dutch governors and col-
onists.