Monday, May 4, 2009

martin wickramasinghe museum, koggala


The childhood home

During my stay in the area, I visited the museum and childhood home of the famous author of many novels and books of learning, the late Mr Martin Wickramasinghe. Details can be found on www.martinwickramasinghe.org

The Martin Wickramasinghe Trust runs this establishment for the benefit of the people, where we only have to pay a nominal entrance fee of Rs20/-

School children are encouraged to come as a class, as many of the works of Mr Wickramasinghe are part of the literature that is studied. One should ideally spend about 2 to 3 hours wandering around the grounds.

Of course with my need to learn mode, I was most interested in the names of the trees in the park that have both the sinhala name, the english name and the latin name.

The folk museum is not too large as to make it boring, and so little interesting snippets can be learned like knives used to cut herbs for ayurvedic medicine which caught my eye. There is something of interest for everyone. The more interest the public shows in this place I am sure the interest the trust would take to enhance the enjoyment factor of the visitor and provide an even greater experience, with no burden on the state.

Exhibit of carts of yesteryear