Sri Dalada Museum

The Sri Dalada Museum, usually called simply the Temple Museum, is the museum of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy. It fills the upper floors of the Alut Maligawa, the "New Palace" building within the temple complex, and it tells the story of the relic and the temple through the things that have gathered around them over the centuries: gifts from kings and foreign rulers, royal clothing and silverware, documents from the last years of the Kandyan Kingdom, and photographs of the day in 1998 when the temple itself was bombed. In Sinhala it is ශ්‍රී දළදා මාලිගාවේ කෞතුකාගාරය, the museum of the Sri Dalada Maligawa.

Where the Museum Is

The museum is part of the temple complex, not a separate site. After visiting the relic shrine, visitors continue into the Alut Maligawa and climb to the museum floors. Because it is reached from inside the temple, the museum keeps the temple's rules: you visit it barefoot, in the same modest clothing, and on the same ticket.

What You Can See

The collection is a mixture of royal heritage and temple history. Its themes, roughly in the order you meet them, are:

• The temple's records. Historical documents, lists of the chief prelates of the temple and of the Kandyan kings, and busts of past Diyawadana Nilames, the lay custodians of the relic. An archive section holds rare ola-leaf manuscripts.
• The buildings. Topographical models of the temple and plans from three phases of the palace and temple buildings, showing how the complex grew.
• The last kings of Kandy. Life-size figures of King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last Kandyan king, and his queen, along with royal clothing including garments of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha.
• Documents of a changing island. Dutch-period documents from 1765 and documents connected with the Kandyan Convention of 1815, the agreement that ended the Kandyan Kingdom.
• Offerings to the relic. Caskets, jewelled Buddha statues, jewellery and ritual objects presented to the temple over the centuries. Among the royal gifts are a silver water pot given by King Kirti Sri Rajasinha, a silver hanging lamp from King Rajadhi Rajasinha, and other silver vessels and oil lamps offered by the kings.
• Gifts from abroad. A painted Buddha footprint sent by King Borommakot of Siam, a reminder of the close ties between the Kandyan and Thai Buddhist worlds in the eighteenth century.
• Relics and coins. A casket of relics associated with the Elder Moggaliputta Tissa, who presided over the Third Buddhist Council, and coins from the Polonnaruwa, Dutch and British periods.

The 1998 Bombing

In January 1998 the LTTE drove a truck bomb into the temple's entrance, badly damaging the front of the complex. The museum displays large photographs of the destruction and of the restoration that followed. The blast also had an unexpected result: it stripped plaster from old walls and revealed earlier frescoes beneath, including painted figures of an elephant and of people, which had been hidden for generations.

Not to Be Confused With

Several museums stand within a few minutes' walk of each other around the temple, and their names are easily mixed up:

• The International Buddhist Museum (also called the World Buddhist Museum) is in a separate colonial-era building next to the temple and presents Buddhism across many countries of Asia.
• The Raja Museum, the Tusker Museum, honours Raja, the elephant who carried the relic casket in the Esala Perahera for decades.
• The Kandy National Museum occupies the Palle Vahale, the former queens' quarters of the Royal Palace, and is run separately by the Department of National Museums, with its own ticket.

Tickets, Hours and Dress

The museum is included in the temple's combined ticket. According to the temple's official FAQ, foreign visitors pay 3,000 rupees and visitors from SAARC countries, Thailand and Myanmar pay 2,500 rupees, and the ticket covers the Temple of the Tooth, the Dalada Museum, the World Buddhist Museum, the Tusker Museum and the Royal Elephant Stable. Prices can change, so check at the ticket counter. The temple lists its hours as 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

• Dress modestly. Shorts, sleeveless tops and revealing clothes are not allowed. Suitable clothing is sold at the entrances if you need it.
• Shoes off. Shoes and bulky bags are left at reception booths at the entrance in exchange for a token, and the museum is visited barefoot along with the rest of the temple.
• Consider a guide. A guide helps a great deal, since many exhibits only make sense with the story behind them.

Nearby

• The Magul Maduwa, the Royal Audience Hall where the Kandyan kings held court and the Kandyan Convention was signed, just north of the temple.
• The Royal Palace of the Kandyan kings and the Natha Devale in the same precinct.
• Kandy Lake, directly in front of the temple, with a path around its shore.