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Renovation of Sri Wickrama Rajasinhe’s concubines’ bathing place
View(s):Ulpenge or better described as the bathing place of the concubines of King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, which another school of thought describes as the time spent by them during their ‘difficult’ days, by sitting around the cool water within, is under renovation.
After the British annexation of the Kandyan Kingdom, this building was used as a Post for the British Army to guard the Sri Dalada Maligawa. Later the building was handed over to British planters and Army personnel to run the “United Services Library”. Then, with the library, there were lawyers’ and government offices.
The library was disbanded and the lawyers’ offices shifted and it stood empty for sometime. When the Police post within the Sri Dalada Maligawa came under attack during the insurgency, the Police post was shifted to this building.
With the recent shifting of the Police post to another venue, this building went into disuse and fell into decay. Now, the Archaeological Dept under whose purview the building has come, is rehabilitating the building.
Text and pix By L.B. Senaratne