Sri Lanka
Colombo, a vibrant and contrasting metropolis
Sri Lanka,
finally soon, the "capital", Colombo.
The travel time from Hikkaduwa to Colombo is necessarily shorter than to go to Kandy, and makes it possible to better take advantage of a day's visit, even if this time we do not take the highway.
However, we remain a little worried about the memory of arriving at the airport: if we had avoided the city of Colombo itself, major works required long and complicated detours even in the middle of the night to reach Hikkaduwa.
Which at first glance can not leave the best memory of the great agglomeration.
As for other sites to visit, the points of interest are traditional: two large old and prestigious hotels, the modern city and its buildings of skyscrapers, the large Buddhist temple, the mausoleum in honor of independence from 1948 ... but also the old district of Pettah.
Before Colombo, a gigantic stupa looms in the background of a major urban traffic axis, at the entrance to Kalutara .
Then on the road, other small temples reproduce the motif "in waves" of that of Kandy. And always this serene fervor.
Sri Lanka,
on the way to Colombo, very beautiful temples
The road to Colombo is dotted with temples of very different sizes, some of which deserve to be mentioned (see opposite and below).
In addition to those in the brilliant white color which display walls of enclosure "in waves" and more or less important stupas, that of Bellanwila , 16 km in the south of Colombo is particularized by its demarcated architecture evoking perhaps the influence. European, and its light ocher color (below).
Crossed out by electric and telephone wires, here are some another dominated by a tall brick Buddha towards Panadura .
In this impregnation of the Buddhist religion, a small niche shelters the Christian Virgin.
Right against, a sort of stele surmounted by a cross is draped with a purple band. like the small Buddhist altars at a crossroads.
Meet almost incongruous, to the point of deserving to be cited (opposite left).
Colombo, Sri Lanka,
luxury hotels from the English era
Once in Colombo, a visit to the oldest and most famous hotel in the capital is a must for tour operators.
This is the Mount Lavinia Hotel (photos below), whose first building was the palace of the second governor from British Ceylon, as early as 1805.
It becomes a hotel when the creation of the 2nd railway line comes pass nearby, in 1877.
Of course it's luxury in the perfect British style, not the ostentatious "Trump" glitz.
From the first hotel, the seen in the distance at the end of the huge bay opens on the modern part of the city and its large buildings, at the foot of which, on the other hand, is the oldest district, that of the Fort and the Pettah (see below).
Another hotel freelances him, the second we visit, the Face Galle Hôte l (below), also one of the oldest in Sri Lanka, but built in ... 1864 only, to the immediate south of the port and the Fort.
Celebrities, luxury, but no other dream than the gaze that escapes the sea above the green alley, the prestigious promenade that gave it its name, Face Galle .
Corn dreaming a little in passing is enough for us ; without being choosy, this hushed luxury in isolation In nothing does not arouse the desire to stay there.
Colombo, Sri Lanka,
Pettah, a central working-class neighborhood
We wanted to visit the working-class district around the market and its clock tower, that of Pettah , on our own at lunchtime. This resulted in our driver guide making a very repeated reciprocating lateral head movement, meaning his mute disapproval, or at least urging us to be cautious.
On this day, most shops are closed, except in the main pedestrian street.
Here is certainly an example of "real life", between the dense commercial arteries, one very wide for traffic, the "Main Street", the other pedestrian which is perpendicular to it, under a blazing sun.
Under a curved roof made of a kind of transparent evertite (?), Almost a glass roof, of which we know the insulating virtues, a market; but it shelters nothing more than an organized pile of fabrics and clothes for sale.
In rare and too light puffs, a sea wind tempers the ambient air a little.
The richness of the colors, the decorations, the sculptures, where the gods, apart from Ganesh, are all mustaches, the characters well represented in an always different attitude, amazes by the precision of the sculptures, the harmony and the shimmer of the colors.
Overabundance of characters, apparent need to fill the space; Hindu culture does not fish by excess of sobriety.
But the result is remarkable and cannot fail to strike the passer-by.
Under almost symmetrical latitudes, the east coast of Reunion Island exhibits its most modest temples with as much (hyper) expressiveness.
Historically the Pettah district was the heart of old Colombo.
In a restaurant almost without tourists, but very frequented by the locals, I swallow a rice with a homemade chicken drumstick, quite tasty but very spicy. It is explained to me that this one contains only sweet pepper. But another next to the "real" pepper ...
All meals are eaten at a good pace and the clientele parades, chooses their dish and consumes.
Rice is only eaten with your fingers, it is the custom of the country; we wash our hands in a sink accessible to all in the dining room. I am entitled, because tourists are easily recognized, to cutlery that I do not even need to claim.
All this for a few tens of rupees. Marlène brought her own food.
A (another) beautiful Hindu temple
Looking for shade along the sidewalks, suddenly, emerging above the roofs of other buildings, here is in the middle of the city the pyramid of a Hindu temple, whose sharp slopes are literally covered with multicolored figures.
However, it does not seem to be the same as the more important temple (opposite) glimpsed from a shifted artery coming towards Pettah, that of Sri Kailawasanathan Swami Devasthanam Kovi l.
The latter is said to be the oldest and largest Hindu temple in Colombo.
Dedicated to Shiva and Ganesh, it is overflowing with painted figures, gods and goddesses, in a representation that would illustrate an astrological map.
Then a (another) amazing big mosque
In one of the side streets, the gaze is captured by a high and very remarkable building, whose red and white colors draw superb patterns on the exterior walls, the columns, around all the often monumental openings.
It is the arcade of the broken-arch windows that identifies the nature of the building: a large mosque, called "the Red Mosque" ... necessarily.
Its name is " Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque ".
It was completed in 1909, and is part of an architectural movement in British India at the end of the 19th century.
In the absence of a minaret, the style intersects with Hindo-Islamic, neo-Gothic and Victorian inspirations. A bit like an Alhambra of delirium, with vertical arrogance.
The result is astonishing, harmonious and perfectly original.
At 2 p.m., we join our driver, almost surprised to find us at the appointed time, and unharmed.
He tried well but in vain to seek some shade for our car, in the large dusty parking lot next door.
Sri Lanka,
and now modern Colombo
Since 1980, Colombo is theoretically no longer the capital of Sri Lanka, even if it remains its economic capital.
The administrative capital is Sri Jayawardenapura , which is nothing but the old name of Kotte, just 15 km southeast of Colombo.
But the inertia of history and the economic power of the port of Colombo almost got the better of this decision, which is still in effect. Indeed, most of the large national institutions remained in Colombo.
And from abroad, do we easily know and know how to pronounce the new name of the real capital? Perhaps we missed the goal of 1980 by not retaining the old name of Kotte?
In any case, the modern city (of Colombo) awaits us, to the north of the great agglomeration, with its high office and residential towers, still under construction in this larger and less dense space.
For the size of the capital, a great buddhist symbol.
In this case, it is this huge stupa on a stilt, visible from afar, like a giant child spanning the Chaithya Road and, amused, would lean over her, hands on knees.
Built around the 1960s, it is called " Buddha Jayanthi Chaithya ", in reference to a great Buddhist festival, and marks the entrance to the port.
From a terrace near the cul-de-sac of the port, one sees large construction sites of high towers, in progress or nearing completion.
One of them is a very high cylinder which opens out at its end into a bulge in the shape of a cob. Still under development outside, it is the "Lotus Tower" on the east shore of Lake Beira.
On the A2 which crosses the city north-south along the coast, the city center deploys its large buildings on either side of the tracks.
Even if she is similar to an urban highway, it does not exclude the tuk tuks which always manage to make their way.
The advertisements, the diversity of the heights of buildings, their color give the city a modern character quite comparable to that of the large US cities, for example.
Further east, in front of Viharamahadevi Park, is the Town Hall , built in 1928 in the style of the Capitol in Washington.
Under the peristyle, everyone comes to celebrate with enthusiasm this stage of a new national and re-founding identity.
The children smile and play between the pillars, the perspective of which leads in the axis of what appears to be a vast white palace. It is the building named "Arcade Independance Square" , which hosts the Provincial Council of the West in which we are.
Not far away, a huge building of open architecture like that of a modern stadium.
Our driver guide indicates that it is something like an art exhibition center.
This is effectively called the Nelum Mahinda Theater, previously the National Performing Arts Theater, which was completed in 2011, on the proposal from China.
This one must therefore have funded the project. She often does in countries or regions of the world where it considers its economic and strategic interests, by this kind of original architectural achievements (eg the San Jose football stadium in Costa Rica); here the pretext is also cultural.
The architecture is inspired by the Lotus Pond (Nelum Pokuna), a 12th century building in Polonnaruwa. It is shaped like a stylized eight-petalled lotus flower.
Elsewhere, two powerful twin square towers stand like two black dungeons and shield the sun.
Further on, an innovative architect had two neighboring towers built, one of usual verticality, the other of comparable height but whose curved profile tilts towards the first which seems like a tutor (admire the reflection!).
In our constant haste, we won't even see two more 152m tall twin towers, the local Wordl Tade Center.
Not far away, a few hundred meters to the southeast, was erected the Independence Memorial , to celebrate this defining event of February 4, 1948.
Our venerable driver tells us how much he holds in high esteem the one called here "the father of the nation", the 1st Prime Minister of the Independent State of Sri Lanka, Don Stephen Senanayake .
His intelligence must have been remarkable, if we measure it - it is said - by the yardstick of the ears.
The memorial is built on the model of the royal palace of audiences of the last kingdom of Kandy (Magul Madiwa), the one where the last king and the representatives of the British Empire signed in 1815 the submission of the first to the second.
It houses a museum in the basement.
The main sites mentioned above are shown in the map opposite, which allows them to be located in particular in relation to the port to the north.
We are used to locating the city center at the point here indicated by .
Below yet another illustration of the harbor by the Dutch Johannes Kip circa 1680.
We recognize on the map opposite dating from 1807 the Pettah district around the port. He is one of the oldest in the city, with the Fort immediately south of the harbor cul-de-sac.
In our stroll by car, other beautiful institutional buildings stand, most of them from the British era, sometimes facing the sea like the " Old Parliament Building ", (below), built in 1930 in a neo style. -classic, which now houses the Presidential Administration.
Well hidden behind thick vegetation, the white buildings and the spacious gardens of the Presidential Palace, the President's residence, the " President's House " are located just south of the port and in the axis of the avenue that leads to Pettah.
At the back on the seafront, the Colombo lighthouse has been beautifully restored and enhanced.
Two streets further east, a large red brick building displays "Cargills Ceylon Limited".
In the center of Fort Colombo, it is a former import-export department store, today the headquarters (?) Of the Company of the same name.
Building was first the residence of the first Dutch military commander of Galle (when it was developing before Colombo) then that of the first British Governor of Ceylon.
Among the very Japanese and South Korean car park, even Indian, since the "Tata" brand is quite frequently found, here is one that stands out, not so much by modernity or design, but by the brand: a Renault , yes, lost in the middle of this island.
But a probably exclusive version of this region of the world, still unknown (?) In France, a "Kwid" ... New low-cost version of Renault manufactured first in India, here nearby, then in other countries of the world outside Europe.
From their floors of vertigo and glass, the cravat employees of the air-conditioned open spaces, the maintenance women who spend their apparatus polishing the marble of the already mirrored floor, see on the floor, so low, between a few palm trees and hibiscus a sarong white sweeping with methodical lightness the dirt floor of the entrance to his house, almost a hut, or that of his corrugated iron roof shop, next to the tuk tuks all asleep in the moist heat.
We meet a probable fisherman (the sea is just a stone's throw away), hilarious, carrying a flail on his shoulder at the ends of which are suspended two flat trays of dried fish.
More and more rare in this district, islands of real life still remain between the towers, restoring a little of the old identity but still very present of the country, in what looks more like a harmony between the two worlds which are side by side, than in a tense opposition.
Sri Lanka, Colombo,
Great Gangaramaya Temple
Some 300 meters east of Lake Beira, this Buddhist temple is one of the most important in Colombo. It dates from 1885 and was founded by the monk Hikkaduwe Sri Sumanagala Nayaka Thera (1827 to 1911).
He is one of the pioneers of the revival movement of Sinhala Buddhism in the 19th century.
The temple is composed of several buildings whose architecture appeals to different Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian and Chinese styles.
The specialists find there the typical organization of Buddhist temples with the main temple, a pagoda, a sacred tree symbol of spiritual awakening (bodhi tree) and an assembly hall for the monks.
The temple was built to accommodate a very wealthy monk, Don Bastian.
Don Bastian (by Silva Jayasuriya Goonewardane, Mudaliyar), famous 19th century shipowner, buys the marshy land with three Moors in the environment of the neighboring natural lake, and dries it up (not the lake, the land purchased) at great expense.
We note the Portuguese loan "de Silva" in the full name of the owner, which illustrates the passage of the first European conquerors.
Our impression, for this still rapid visit, is that an accumulation of buildings, Buddhas, stupas, statues of all kinds, a shambles or a souk of Asia, which is also a museum.
Very spectacular, but for a long time enclosed in an urbanized area.
A temple therefore too dense, without the more serene breathing or the magnitude of that of Kandy.
On the other hand, the visit of the nearby Buddhist temple which forms a small peninsula on the lake is not included in our mini-circuit. Too bad therefore, we will not see the Seema Malaka.
The richness, the quality and the aesthetic value of the statues of elephants, Chinese warriors, Buddhas in all kinds of positions, stupas, ivory horns, are certainly considerable.
In a back yard as vast as an overflowing patio, on a sort of high tiered stage, a large number of dark, impressive, Thai-style Buddhas are lined up.
"The statues of Buddha are placed on the different levels in order to create an atmosphere of spirituality" says the site http://www.exploresrilanka.lk ".
It is said that the gaze, which necessarily goes upwards and beyond, thus welcomes the sky, beyond the bleachers.
Elsewhere it is a large elaborately decorated gong.
Just set back under the left knee of the first, a very realistic bonze is statufie; maybe the one who is at the origin of the foundation of the temple?
In the neighboring space watch very realistic sculpted groups; a life-size elephant, an enormous stylized peacock, carrying a sort of multi-arm Buddha which leans against its open tail.
Other rooms in this maze house great lengths of display cases showing an infinity of more or less sacred objects.
Their market and historical value must be great, but they are so numerous and so diverse that they are rather the business of specialists, historians or experts.
Their aesthetic value, the only one to which we, ignorant, can being sensitive is obvious. But it would take hours to appreciate all its beauty.
Most of them result from offerings by pilgrims, who wanted to stand out beyond the lotus flowers, and to obtain more singularly the benevolence of the Buddha.
Summary etymology of the name Sri Lanka
- Sri:
"Sri" is a title of veneration given to hindu gods and issuing of Sanskrit. It signifies prosperity, good luck. Then, over time, "Sri" became a common honorary term, given to the wise at guru (master, teacher).
But it can also qualify an honored, sacred object. In India today, "Sri" is used in the sense of " Sir ". Its female equivalent is "Shrimati". It can also be translated by Lord.
In a complimentary sense, it is often translated as " venerable "," prosperous "," Holy "," brilliant "...
"Sri" can be appended to the names of states or cities, such as Sri Lanka, SriKsetra, Sriwijaya, Srinagar.
- Lanka:
"Lanka" is the ancient Sanskrit name for the island, before "Ceylon", and meant "the island where one obtains happiness", "the fortunate island".
- Sri Lanka:
Since 1972, the old name of Ceylon has been replaced by Sri Lanka. So many qualifiers accumulated, "the holy fortunate island", or "the sacred island of happiness"! ...
Of course green, luxuriant, generous, the island of golden mornings, steeped in Buddhist culture and the search for liberation from earthly contingencies, the island that hurries fluidly,
... once we have avoided the monsoon (200 dead, tens of thousands displaced by landslides, two months after our visit), the tsunamis, the terrible old internal wars, the inequalities still present.
So dirt parking lot where we park the vehicle, a beautiful elephant, hairy skull, attached by a rope with a wide slack, eats palm leaves thrown to the ground which it takes delicately with its trunk. With his intelligent , almost mocking eye, he observes "tourist assholes" passing by, one ear flap flirtatiously.
Past the street stalls that sell offerings for pilgrims, a kind of synthetic turf is a must.
This is where we take off our shoes before entering the temple grounds; the delicate skin of the plant Western feet get caught up and bitten by this uncomfortable rug.
Outside, the walls are decorated with large panels of low relief frescoes, of what appears to be copper or brass, said to illustrate the eight vicissitudes, or the eight paths of life.
The temple is in fact made up of a monastery (Vihara), a pagoda (Cetiya), of the House of Images (?) full of colorful Buddha statues (Vihara Mandiraya), Buddhas stands, the sacred tree (Bodhi Tree), the Chamber of the Relic, a library and a museum .
The entrance (which therefore seems to be the Vihara Mandiraya) under a very high roof is adorned with a large seated Buddha very venerated, another very high Buddha standing near the door and advancing into the depth of the building. other Buddhas framed by statues.
The whole, extremely decorated, loaded with gilding, despite a beautiful harmony of colors, gives a very kitsch impression, a bit like the interior of certain Portuguese Baroque churches, for example in Porto , when the Portuguese, already them , brought back heaps of gold from Brazil (see the "talha dourada").
Our driver is thrilled; he can devote himself without restraint to his discreet devotions and his prayers.
Next to it, a superb and imposing elegantly decorated stupa is twinned with a sort of small pagoda, the Cetiya, in sober colors housing another seated white Buddha. The pillars are beautifully decorated, including dragons.
On one side outside, another majestic Buddha, totally gilded, overlooks a tray of offerings, lotus flowers.
Under a high roof, a sort of sparkling gold stupa, surmounted by a decoration in decreasing plates or in a spiral, is protected behind thick panes.
But it is certain that our culture, which perhaps tires of this hyper representation, must neither neglect or hide all the educational value of this great temple, not only for the monks or the apprentice monks, but also for all the local youth.
In total on leaving, despite everything, you end up feeling a kind of relief when you leave this profusion, this wealth of gold, ivory, colors, this accumulation, extraordinary to the point of excess.
Other warlike or formidable, majestic or threatening or wrathful expressions are illustrated at the entrance and in the temple, like traditional Asian sculptures.
They are in fact the guardians of the temple who keep evil spirits and demons away.
We even dream of sobriety shapes, the refined research of the decorations of the great neighbor to the north, China with the "feng shui" movement, taken over by Japan.
Or a larger and better organized reception area like the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, in Kandy.
Quickly, we leave Colombo, to set off again towards the south-east.
The road will not be too long this time. She is just interrupted at the edge of town, for a few minutes, by the occurrence from a valiant train barely announced, to a level crossing where it is all the same signaled by a lifting barrier, which our venerable driver saw.
A train that seems to have appeared almost out of nowhere, between the trees, from behind a wall, without even seeing the rail.
A ghost train ... Beyond which, after having encountered a few more modern buildings of more modest size which are becoming more sparse, we will later reach tea hills.