Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Several friendly priests, some of whom speak English, can answer questions about the
temple and its traditions. Visitors must remove their shoes; men need to remove their shirts
as well.
You can also say a prayer at the sacred tree in the temple's southern courtyard anytime:
get a piece of gold-threaded cloth from outside the temple, wrap some coins in it, and tie it
to the tree along with a prayer. Afterwards, ring the big brass bell.
The temple is the focus of the enormous and spectacular Nallur Festival in mid-summer.
Jaffna Fort
FORT
Overlooking the Jaffna lagoon, sections of this vast complex (once one of the greatest
Dutch forts in Asia) have been recently restored, though it remains largely in ruins. It was
built in 1680 over an earlier Portuguese original, and defensive triangles were added in
1792 to produce the classic Vaubanesque star form.
Jaffna's fort has been fought over for centuries. Today you're free to explore its walls,
admire its gateways and moats and view the city from its ramparts.
Long the gatehouse of the city, this citadel once housed thousands of troops and civil-
ians. Many of its walls (constructed from coral, stone, brick and mortar) are still hidden
beneath overgrown slopes.
During the war, government forces used it as an encampment, and in 1990 the LTTE -
at the time in control of the rest of Jaffna - forced out government troops after a grisly
107-day siege.
Jaffna Public Library
LIBRARY
Tellingly, one of the first major buildings to be rebuilt after the 2002 ceasefire was Jaffna's
Public Library. The earlier library was burnt down by pro-government mobs (some say
forces) in July 1981, a destruction deemed a cultural attack by many Tamils - few acts
were more significant in the build-up to civil war.
In its reconstruction, architects kept true to the elegant original neo-Mughal design.
Today it's a bright spacious place that's very actively used by Jaffna's citizens.
