Tintagel, once the Bandaranaike family home where so much of Sri Lanka’s political history was made and now a luxury heritage hotel has been featured in the latest issue of Time magazine (August 25).
The one-page article by Jyoti Thottam carries the blurb –‘Family Jewel. Colombo's newest hip hotel is redolent with the history of a political dynasty’ and goes on to describe Tintagel’s history, from its construction during colonial times by Dr. Lucien de Zilwa and its subsequent rebirth as the Bandaranaike house where Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike was shot on the veranda in 1959 and where his widow and successor Sirimavo would raise their three children, the younger of whom Chandrika, would go to become the country’s first elected woman President.
 |
It quotes entreprenuer Shanth Fernando, owner of the Paradise Road chain of design stores on his vision for Tintagel as a luxury hotel and restaurant. “In creating the hotel, Fernando has preserved the colonial exterior, but as soon as you walk through the grand pillared entrance, it's clear that he has no imperial infatuation. There are no cane-backed chairs or lovingly frayed Oriental rugs. Instead you'll find understated, masculine spaces that typify Fernando's personal style. There are high-backed upholstered sofas from Spain, a chandelier from the Netherlands, Chinese wedding cabinets, black-lacquer tabletops from Vietnam and Burmese art. In place of the pinks and reds so common in the subcontinent, there is a palette of avocado and chocolate, indigo, ebony, mud and ivory,” the article states.
The one-page article makes mention too of the current climate which has affected Tintagels’ clientele and ends with Fernando’s hope that peace will come and with it the guests:
“The stylish restaurant has become a favorite among the city's affluent diners, who visit for the oxtail-and-marrow risotto, the yellowfin tuna enveloped in white radish or the prawns salsa that spices up the chilled soups. Unhappily though, demand for the rooms has been slack.
“Even though bombings and sporadic outbreaks of fighting between the Sri Lanka army and the Tamil tigers rarely affect tourists directly, they have understandably dampened tourism, forcing Fernando to offer his 10 suites at discounted prices, beginning at $200 per night. But he is optimistic that peace will eventually come, and the guests soon after. "Everything takes time," he says, "and I have patience." |
E-mail