The Sri Lankan Parliament Complex ( Sinhalese: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංකීර්ණය,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றக் கட்டடம்; also known as the New Parliament Complex) is a public building and landmark that houses the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṇkā Pārlimentuvā'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் '' ...

. Situated in

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (), also known as Jayapura or Kotte, is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is located adjacent to the urban area of Sri Lanka's de facto economic, executive, and judicial capital, Colombo ...

, the administrative capital, it is built on an island, surrounded by the '' Diyawanna Oya''. It was designed by Deshamanya Geoffrey Bawa.

History

Original building

On 29 January 1930 the British Governor of

Ceylon 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, ...

, Sir Herbert Stanley (1927–1931), opened a

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

fronting the ocean at Galle Face, Colombo, designed for meetings of the Legislative Council. It was subsequently used by the State Council (1931–1947), the House of Representatives (1947–1972), the National State Assembly (1972–1977) and the Parliament of Sri Lanka (1977–1981). Today the Old Parliament Building is used by the Presidential Secretariat.

Relocation proposal

In 1967 under Speaker Sir Albert F. Peris, the leaders of the political parties unanimously resolved that a new Parliament building should be constructed on the opposite side of Beira Lake from the existing Parliament at Galle Face, but no further action was taken. While

Stanley Tillekeratne Stanley Tillekeratne ( Sinhala: ස්ටැන්ලි තිලකරත්න) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ් ...

was the Speaker (1970–77), the leaders of the political parties entrusted the drawing up of plans for a new Parliament building to architects, but the project was subsequently abandoned. Sri Lanka Parliament location

Current building

On 4 July 1979, then Prime Minister

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa''; ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 unt ...

obtained sanction from Parliament to construct a new Parliament Building at ''Duwa'', a island in the ''Diyawanna Oya'' (off Baddegana Road, Pita Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte) about east of

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. The island was where the palace of the King Vikramabahu III's powerful Minister Nissaka Alakesvara had been situated. It had belonged to E. W. Perera prior to being vested in the state. The building was designed by architect Deshamanya Geoffrey Bawa and built by a Japanese consortium of two Mitsui Group companies for a cost of over $25.4 million US. The project was completed on a scheduled time of 26 months. It was officially opened on 29 April 1982 by then President J. R. Jayewardene.

Architecture

Sri Lanka's Parliament Building was designed by respected local architect Geoffrey Bawa. The building is designed in a style of regional modernism. While the building is an example of

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

, it still respects Sri Lankan vernacular architecture. The parliament complex has the allusion of symmetry, which contrasts sharply with the organic form of the lake it is located in.

External links