Gangaramaya (Vihara) Buddhist Temple, Western Province, Sri Lanka

4.0 (3.108 reviews) Spent Ranking #3 in Colombo Religious Sites

Very unusal temple with many ancient artefacts and statues

A combination of a Buddhist temple and a museum. it contained many items of religious relevance, including gold, stones, elephant ivory, porcelain, Chinese statues, stamps, watches, cameras, photographs, coins, one taxidermied elephant, stereos, shells, swords, and some other very weird items. I believe many of these items were donations made to the museum. The centre of the temple was its main prayer area. The whole vibe was quite peaceful but also a little eerie. To get a good feel of the place, I'd recommend going at night or in the evening. Location - Sri Jinarathana Rd Entry fee - LKR 400 per person
Colombo review images

Address

61 Sri Jinaratana Road , Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Mobile

+94 11 2 435169

Website

http://gangaramaya.com

Current local date and time now

Sunday, May 05, 2024, 14:34

User Ratings

4.0 based on (3.108 reviews)

Excellent

46%

Good

34%

Satisfactory

14%

Poor

Terrible

Reviews

5MonteBurns 5:00 PM Jan 11, 2020
Definitely visit this temple.
It’s a nice temple and worth a visit. We hired a tuk tuk to take us around and it was his first stop. A worthy temple with more than just the normal bunch of Buddha statues. One of the exhibits has a piece of Buddha’s hair. There’s also a vast collection antiques and even old cars and some guns and jewelry. The cost of admission $2 or 300 rubles is low and it’s worth 1/2 hour to tour it. Reminder to dress appropriately
3Mike255100 5:00 PM Feb 10, 2020
have seen nicer
This temple is an excellent means of capturing tourist dollars - LKR 400 entry fee for foreigners The main temple with the large budha was nice enough but the rest seemed very junky. People seem to donate everything. There were three nice old cars but then a room with a wide range of old radios and another of old clocks. The highlight of the visit was the feeding of the resident elephant who made a short work of a pile of bananas Perhaps temple visits in Malaysia and China have spoiled me but I would not recommend going.