Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Jaffna residents had long considered their city to be one of Asia's finest intellectual cap-
itals, and the library was an important Tamil cultural centre and historic institution (it was
inaugurated in 1841). The world-renowned collection included more than 90,000 volumes,
including irreplaceable Tamil documents such as the one surviving copy of
Yalpanam
Vaipavama,
a history of Jaffna. All of this went up in flames.
There's a statue of Saraswati - Hinduism's goddess of knowledge - out front.
Royal Palace
RUIN
(Chemmani Rd)
Nallur was the capital of the Jaffna Kingdom for 400 years, and a few weathered structures
remain. They're worth the excursion if you have a good imagination. Yamuna Eri, a U-
shape pool made of carved stones, is neglected but still intact - it's thought to have been
the royal family's women's bathing pool. The tank is behind a playground on Chemmani
Rd, about 500m from Kachcheri-Nallur Rd.
Around the corner on Point Pedro Rd are
Cankili Thoppu archway
, one of the palace's
original entrances, and the beautifully crumbling
Manthri Manai
(Minister's Quarters).
Jaffna Archaeological Museum
MUSEUM
This unkempt but interesting museum is hidden away at the end of a messy garden behind
a concrete events hall. At the door are a rusty pair of Dutch cannons from the fort and a set
of whale bones. Inside, the most interesting items are some 15th-century Buddha torsos
found at Kantarodai and a 14th-century 'seven-mouthed pot.'
St Mary's Cathedral
CHURCH
Built by the Dutch along classical lines, St Mary's Cathedral is astonishingly large, but it's
curious to see corrugated-iron roofing held up by such a masterpiece of wooden vaulting.
Our Lady of Refuge Church
CHURCH
