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Wolvendaal Church

18th-century Calvinist and Reformed churches18th-century churches in Sri LankaChurches completed in 1757Churches in ColomboDutch Reformed churches in Sri Lanka
Infobox religious building with unknown affiliationUse British English from June 2014
SL Colombo asv2020 01 img01 Wolvendaal Church
SL Colombo asv2020 01 img01 Wolvendaal Church

Wolvendaal Church (Wolvendaalse Kerk) is located in Pettah, a neighbourhood of Colombo. It is one of the most important Dutch Colonial era buildings in Sri Lanka, and is one of the oldest Protestant churches still in use in the country.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wolvendaal Church (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Wolvendaal Church
Sri Rathnajothi Mawatha (Wolfendhal Street), Colombo Gintupitiya

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N 6.9421 ° E 79.859 °
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Wolvendaal Church

Sri Rathnajothi Mawatha (Wolfendhal Street)
01200 Colombo, Gintupitiya
Western Province, Sri Lanka
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SL Colombo asv2020 01 img01 Wolvendaal Church
SL Colombo asv2020 01 img01 Wolvendaal Church
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Nearby Places

St. Thomas' Church, Colombo
St. Thomas' Church, Colombo

St. Thomas' Church is situated in Kotahena (District 13) a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is one of the oldest churches in Sri Lanka as now part of the Anglican Church of Ceylon. St. Thomas Church was the first Anglican church built in Sri Lanka, it was constructed by Governor of Ceylon Sir Robert Brownrigg for the use by the local Tamil Christian (Malabar) population. The Malabars at the time were sharing St. Peter's Church, Colombo with the local Europeans. When their number increased to nearly 600 the Malabars collected approximately 860 rupees and approached the government, through Abraham Rodrigo Devanesan Mootookistna, the Mudaliyar interpreter to the governor, for assistance to erect their own church.Brownrigg granted their request and gave orders for the erection of a church at Ginthupitiya, the site of a former Roman Catholic church, which was constructed by the Portuguese. Its presence was testified in the 16th century by Paulo da Trindade (1571-1651). Ginthupitiya was originally known as "San Thome Pitiya" by the Portuguese, who recorded finding a Nestorian cross in the area which they believed indicated an earlier presence of Persian Christians and possibly a site where Thomas the Apostle visited and delivered a sermon. The Dutch subsequently destroyed the church when they took over from the Portuguese. The Dutch made three segregated graveyards, one for their own countrymen, one for their local allies and one for the outsiders/non-conformists, known as "Genthos" in dutch, which led to the name of the area being changed from "San Thome Pitiya" to "Genthopitiya". Paul E. Pieris hypothesises, based on sources from Clevid's 1893 A Brief Sketch of the History of St Thomas Church hypothesises that 'San Thome' degenerated to 'Gin tun' and in turn to 'Gintu'.The first church service was held on 16 July 1816, with the Rev. George Bisset conducting the Service, Rev. Thomas James Twisleton delivered the sermon and prayers were said in Tamil by G. J. Ondaatjie.

Grand Mosque of Colombo
Grand Mosque of Colombo

The Grand Mosque of Colombo is a mosque located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The mosque has a documented history that goes back over 500 years. The earliest European reference to the mosque appears in a description from November 1505 when the commander of a Portuguese expedition anchored in Colombo bay. In 1520 following an attack on the Portuguese trading post, established earlier by Lopo de Brito, the Captain of Portuguese Ceylon, the King Bhuvanaikabahu of Kotte burnt the town (Colombo) along with two large mosques. The mosque was however rebuilt on the same site soon after. In the 1820s, the mosque was redesigned and rebuilt by Malay architect, Muhammad Balangkaya, the son of a Malay noble of the Royal House of Gowa (present-day Sulawesi, Indonesia), who was exiled to Ceylon in 1790 by the Dutch. The mosque was rebuilt as a two-storey structure, one of the first of its kind. In 1826 the British Governor of Ceylon, Edward Barnes, visited the mosque and commended the architect on the excellence of his work. In 1827 Sir Alexander Johnston discovered an Arabic inscribed tombstone dating to 948AD, which had been moved by the Dutch from the old Muslim cemetery next to the Grand Mosque, which indicates the mosque may be over 1,100 years old and possibly the oldest mosque in Sri Lanka.In 1897 an additional wing was constructed under the supervision of I. L. M. H. Muhammad Mohideen. The wing was used in 1959 as classrooms for the newly established school, Al-Madrasathul Hameedia.was Constructed by Sultaan Abdul Hamid the Second of the Ottoman Empire In 1921 the name of the school was changed to the Hameedia Boys' English School. The mosque was reconstructed again during 1900s to meet the modern needs of the Muslim community. The mosque contains the shrine of the Malay saint, Tuan Bagoos Balankaya.