Kandy General Post Office

The Kandy General Post Office (Sinhala: මහනුවර ප්‍රධාන තැපැල් කාර්යාලය - கண்டி பிரதான அஞ்சல் அலுவலகம்) is the main post office in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Kandy General Post Office
මහනුවර ප්‍රධාන තැපැල් කාර්යාලය
கண்டி பிரதான அஞ்சல் அலுவலகம்
The Kandy Old Post Office building
Former namesKandy Post Office
General information
LocationStation Road, Kandy
Town or cityKandy
CountrySri Lanka
Coordinates7°17′26″N 80°37′56″E
Inaugurated1902
ClientSri Lanka Post

The first post office was opened in Kandy in 1820,[1][2] under the direction of the Postmaster General of Ceylon, Louis Sansoni. The first mail coach service, between Colombo and Kandy, began operations in 1832.[3]

History

On 1 July 1857 an overland telegraph line, connecting the Colombo and the Kandy post offices, was opened. In September a submarine cable, connecting Ceylon with India, was laid between Thanaikai Point and Talamannar, with the line from Kandy to Manaar via Mihintale finished in October.[4]

The current post office building, which originally housed the Railway Hotel,[5][6] was constructed in 1867. The site was previously the location of the Bogambra Coffee Mill, operated by John Walker & Sons.[7] In 1902 it was converted for use as the post office,[8] following its acquisition by the government from the hotel's liquidators.[7]

Present Day

On 8 July 2005 the post office building was gazetted as an Archeological Protected Monument.[9]

In June 2017 the United Postal Trade Union went on a three-day strike in order to stop the government's plans to sell the Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Galle Fort post offices to private developers, in order for the buildings be converted into hotels.[10][11] In July 2017 the Kandy City Heritage Committee announced that the post office building would be conserved as a World Bank funded project.[8]

See also

References
  1. Wickramasinghe, Nira (2015). Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History. Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780190225797.
  2. "Ceylon Pre-stamp markings". Prestige Philately. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  3. Gaveshaka, "Our Heritage", Colombo, Sunday Times Online, v. 1, No. 36 (Feb. 4 2007). ISSN 1391-0531
  4. Fletcher, Paul (2012). Communicating Empire: Gauging Telegraphy's Impact on Ceylon's Nineteenth Century Colonial Government Administration. University of Heidelberg. p. 66.
  5. de Silva, Nimal (1994). Kandy: a cultural guide to world heritage city. Deveco Designers & Publishers.
  6. Karunaratna, Nimal; Madhyama Atika Aramudala (1999). Kandy, past and present, 1474-1998 A.D. Central Cultural Fund, Ministry of Religious and Cultural Affairs. p. 272. ISBN 9789556131215.
  7. Skeen, George J. A. (1903). A guide to Kandy, with maps. A handbook of information, useful alike to the visitor and the resident. Colombo: A.M. and J. Ferguson. pp. 13-14.
  8. Senaratne, L. B. (16 July 2017). "World Bank project to preserve Kandy Post Office building". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  9. "Gazette". The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. 1401. 8 July 2005.
  10. Karunaratne, Upali (30 June 2017). "Postal strike ends". The Daily News. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  11. Kanakarathna, Thilanka (26 June 2017). "Indefinite postal strike from midnight". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
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