Jaffna Public Library (; ) is located in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It is one of Jaffna's most notable landmarks, and is run by the

Jaffna Municipal Council Jaffna Municipal Council (; JMC) is the Local government in Sri Lanka, local authority for the city of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. JMC is responsible for providing a variety of local public services including roads, sanitation, drains, housing, l ...

. The library was built in 1933 and is Sri Lanka's second main public Library, only rivalled by Colombo Public Library During the early 1980s, it was one of the biggest libraries in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts. In 1981, it was burned down in a

deliberate An intention is a mental state in which a person commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the '' ...

mob attack. Over a million books were burned in the 1981 arson attack, and some ancient Tamil books and manuscripts were never recovered. In 2001, the renovation of the library was completed, with new structures being built and new books received, although its old books and manuscripts were not replaced. The building's classical lines and beautiful proportions make it stand out architecturally. It contains lush gardens and has been modernized with new facilities added, such as free Wi-Fi in 2016

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Note on the history of Jaffna Public Library

2009 documentary
{{Authority control 1933 establishments in Ceylon Cultural buildings in Jaffna Libraries in Jaffna District Tourist attractions in Northern Province, Sri Lanka Destroyed libraries

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