Baptism Church Hanwella is one of the oldest churches in Colombo dating back to 1820 and consider as the first ever baptism Church Sri Lanka had. Nestled in Hanwella, Colombo the Hanwella church has the reputation of conducting the baptism at that time that seemed to embrace the Lord.
Negombo Fort was a small but important fort in Negombo,
approx. 30 km (19 mile) north of Colombo, that was built by
the Portuguese to defend Colombo. The fort was located on a
narrow strip of land between a lagoon and an inlet of the sea.
It was surrounded by a dry moat, and the gate was accessed
via a drawbridge. The original Portuguese fort was a weak
structure, which was captured by Dutch forces commanded
by Philip Lucasz, in February 1640. The Portuguese made
several attempts to retake it before they were successful in
December 1640. They then strengthened the fortifications and
managed to defend the fort until it was recaptured by the
Dutch, commanded by Francois Caron, in January 1644. The
original bastions were destroyed by the Dutch cannons during
the siege of the fort. The Dutch subsequently rebuilt it in 1672
however not on the usual square pattern, but on a pentagonal
one, though it had only four bulwarks, the fifth was never
constructed (possibly due to the cost).
The Old Parliament Building, now houses the Presidential
Secretariat of Sri Lanka. Situated in the Colombo Fort
area facing the sea, it is in close proximity to the
President’s House, Colombo and adjacent to the General
Treasury Building. The Neo-Baroque-style building
was built during the British colonial era to house the
Legislative Council of Ceylon and was an idea of Sir
Henry McCallum. The building was opened on 29 January
1930 by Governor Sir Herbert Stanley; a year later it was
taken over by the State Council of Ceylon for its use, who
were tenants of the building until 1947, when the House
of Representatives was formed with the onset of selfrule. Following the adoption of a republican constitution
in 1972, the National State Assembly convened in the
building until 1977, when it was renamed the Parliament
of Sri Lanka.