Colombo Old Town Hall & Museum

Old Town Hall, Colombo, Sri Lanka (3 September, 2005)

Colombo Old Town Hall & Museum (GPS: 6.93871, 79.85407) is a historic building at Kayman's Gate in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Kayman's Gate got its name from the Dutch who used to stock crocodiles at Beira Lake to prevent their slaves from escaping. Thankfully, there are no more crocodiles at Kayman's Gate today.

The Old Town Hall is an elegant structure standing near the gate. Today the building acts as a post office on the ground floor, and as a museum on the upper floor. Outside, there is an exhibit of old steam engines.

I visited the Colombo Old Town Hall & Museum when I was Pettah district with a small group of AsiaExplorers members. The caretakers of the museum were gracious in unlocking the museum to show us - apparently there were no other visitors, and they were eager to show us the exhibits. I suppose there would be a lot to learn, but due to communication barrier between the caretakers and us - they don't speak good enough English for us to fully understand them - I only learn a limited amount of what the building was used for.