At night the Bo tree is very calm and quite.. Temple is like a museum with lots of artifacts and items from car to pen . Would have arranged it properly to attract the people and conserve for the next generation. Also there is a controversy over the elephants there who tied in to trees and tortured ( Animal rights activists claims )
Very nice temple. Peaceful and a place for nice piece of meditation. It has some golden ornamented Buddha and smallest Buddha idol. It has an entrance ticket for foreigners. But I don't understand the concept of museum there which displays tiny toy model of f16 fighter plane to canon digital camera . Looks like they have dumped all the junks in a place and sell as a musuem.
This is a very nice temple to visit.
This is situated in a calm environment. There are thousands of Buddha statues. Do meditation here. You will feel peaceful and relax of mind.
One of the nicest temples within the Colombo city limit. This has a good history and make sure you have enough time to spend there, there are lot to see in this temple, it would take at least 2 hours if you wanna fully discover the temple. Much more historical items are in display, also different cultures of buddha statues can be seen.
Specially they have mini chairs to sit for the people who come to visit the temple, people can sit in a mini chair and worship the lord Buddha.
Temple has a cool atmosphere even in day time, full of greenery too.
Must visit place in Colombo.
Very nice temple. Very calm and loads of statues. Something to see there. A must go!! You can't purchase anything here. Make sure you donate some rupees to temple
Really strange collection of artefacts in general. Awesome spaces. Definitely worth a visit highly recommend.
This is a very nice temple to visit which is situated in a calm environment. There are thousands of Buddha statues very calm and silent place
Rs 300 gets you into Gangaramaya Temple - the temple of the hair: so called because it contains a piece of the Buddha’s hair. It's possibly one of the strangest temples a tourist can find. It is a hoarder's paradise. It's as if someone decided they were going to collect everything from every period regardless of their value. There is even a collection of vintage cars including two old Rolls Royce’s which were used on Queen Elizabeth’s visit. There are old cameras, sets of cutlery, rifles, swords, pairs of glasses, the trivia of people's lives but, unlike most museums, these are simply placed in cabinets without labels or explanation. The temple itself is beautiful. At the time I visited there were very few tourists and it was great just to wander round and soak up the ambiance.
Today Gangaramaya serves not only as a place of Buddhist worship; it is also a centre of learning. The temple is involved in Buddhist welfare work including old peoples' homes, a vocational school and an orphanage. The temple is uniquely attractive and tolerant to congregation members of many different religions. It has also been instrumental in establishing the Buddhist temple, the Buddhist Center in New York and the Buddhist Centre in Tanzania , thereby helping to propagate the Dhamma in other countries.
More than temple it is a museum.
You will get all the old stuff.. to see ..
A lot of statues of lord Buddha ..
Some of gold .. some great in architecture..
On 1st of each year ..
The temple donate .. some money ..
And if .. you have this temple ticket
Then you will get a discount in gem store .. of govt ..
Whats good
The temple will take you by surprise with the sheer volume of artifacts kept there. There are sculptures on the wall and ten different kind of Buddha statues. The chants keep you in the harmonious mode.
Whats not good
Foreigners are charged LKR 300 while it is free for the locals.
What to do
Move around and appreciate the art. Photography is allowed thanks to the money paid.
If you are visiting Colombo, should worship here, place to calm down in the busy city. Very calm and silent environment that you can concentrate on mindfulness or some other meditation technique.
A little bit of a busy temple, however it is yet the best place for one to experience the true peacefulness within and without. A true example of Mahayana influence in Theravada temple! Lovely architecture, clean environments!
A Buddhist temple locates in the heart of the city. Very nicely organised and calm and quite environment inside. There is museum with a collection of very valuable of items. Also the Ganagaramaya Temple has sacred hair relics of load Buddha with other relics too. You can learn a lot about Buddhism at this place. You will have to remove your shoes when entering the temple premises and racks are provided to keep your shoes safe. If you are a tourist visiting or staying in Colombo, this temple is a must visit.
Entry of 300RS per person. The temple's architecture demonstrates an eclectic mix of Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian, and Chinese. Was a lot bigger than we thought, doesn't look like much from the outside but a lot of things to explore inside. Also with your entry you gain entrance to another temple just down the road, situated on the lake, small but lovely.
This is a strange place. It's like a temple crossed with a old museum and has the most random stuff. It's 300 to get in with the highlight being rugby at the start with a room full of murals and a giant Buddha.
It's worth a visit if you have a few days in Colombo.
A very beautiful temple that showers a divine feeling whenever you visit , but the attraction of prominent politicians led to the mass commercialisation of the place .
Is this a temple or some kind of junk shop? The entire place is cluttered with artifacts and statues irrespective of value. It is like some cheap Chinatown junk shop instead of a temple. In my opinion, it is not worth the 350 Rupees entrance fees. There is absolutely no reason to come here and view cheap statues and junk. I have no idea why I went. I see that most of the positive reviews are written by local tour guides. Don't they have better places to promote in Colombo?
Really pretty temple where many locals go for their rituals and prayers.
It is a holy place and welcomes any religion to visit.
At the center there is a massive tree and as a tradition you should pray while you go around it a certain amount of times and then water it with the holy water just next to it. You must take the water with a metal cup and pour it straight onto the routes. This needs to be done at least 3 times.
There are several trees so there is plenty of shade. Many flowers and birds around. It is quite silent compared to the busy street just nearby.
Several interesting statues of divinities and a fragment of the Buddah within glass protected domes.
A monk does blessings for you and gives you flowers and bracelets. It is a bit touristic but nothing like other places you'd compare with. It was a really pleasent stay.
Conclusion:
I absolutely recommend coming here.
Although the tranquil ambience makes for a spiritual walk through the temple, the chained baby elephant takes away from its peaceful appeal.
I was lucky to visit Gangaramaya Temple during the Vesak celebration. There were amazing fireworks and performances. The place is very peaceful and surely a visit when in Colombo.
Nice temple. But the museum in the upstairs needs naming of articles and it's significance. It seems the old and modern articles are stored here. At the Bodhi tree, I met an old person during my visit who upkeeps the cleanliness. Thanks to his sincerity. I liked the watch museum too downstairs.
This place is out of the world. A museum/Buddhist temple. Once you're in you can easily lost track of time. It is mind boggling. A must in Colombo
This would have to be the most extraordinary Buddhist Temple I have ever been to in the world. It has the most eclectic range of items in its 'collection'.
Naturally the highlight is within the Temple itself and the Buddha 'relic'.
Was a little surprised by the compulsory entry charge of Rs300pp but the place is so amazing, it was worth it. When I thought I had seen it all, a monk playing games with a cat, is surpassed by the arrival of an elephant through the front gate and it to its stables beside the vintage Rolls Royce, Mercedes and MG (of course 😁).
The ' museum ' looks more like a jumble sale to me. Old typewriter, butter lamps, elephant tusks, tourist posters, bracelet etc.
Just a hoot to visit.