Rare collection of Sri Lanka’s seashells under Pathfinder Collection
View(s):Over the years, the MMBL-Pathfinder Group has developed the “Pathfinder Collection” which includes rare Sri Lankan artefacts, coins, stamps, antiques, books, prints, maps and historical documents.
The collection of sea shells
The latest addition to this is a rare collection of Sri Lankan seashells which was put together by the widely respected medical doctor and deep-sea diver from Tangalle, the late Dr. Sena Wickremasuriya, the organization said this week.
In the early 1970s, as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Harbours Corporation, he was responsible for the construction of the Tangalle Harbour. Both he and his wife, the late Kumarini Wickremasuriya, were legendary and much-loved figures in Tangalle. After his demise, the latter established Navajeevana, a community-based rehabilitation organisation for the disabled in Tangalle. The sea shell collection was presented for safe-keeping to the Pathfinder Collection by the Wickremasuriya family recently. The shells have been catalogued and identified by renowned diver and marine biologist Rex de Silva and will be displayed at the MMBL-Pathfinder headquarters at “River Point”. The collection will be made available for research purposes on a selected basis.