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Last Lecture : “ endemism & extinction: The Hallmark of Island Biodiversity”

The Monthly Lecture Series No: 164 of the National Trust
Wednesday 25th September 2024 at 6.00 pm

at the Auditorium of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka,
No. 6, Independence Avenue, Colombo 7.

Prof. Sampath Seneviratne

Rain Forest Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka lowland rain forests represents Sri Lanka's Tropical rainforests below 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in elevation in the southwestern part of the island.

The Lion Rock Sigiriya

Wood carvings & Frescoes Temple of the Tooth Relic Kandy

Lectures

National Trust has conducted monthly lectures nearly continuously since 2008 on topics of heritage interest; the lectures may be viewed under the lectures in the menu bar and some recent lectures are shown below

ilding of a ‘New’ Identity: Mandapams of Jaffna Temples

The Monthly Lecture Series No: 163

of the National Trust
Thursday 29th August 2024 at 6.00 pm by Prof. T. Sanathanan

Sri Lanka and the Silk Road of the Sea

Monthly Lecture No: 162

Thursday 25th July 2024 at 6.00 pm by Kapila D. Silva, PhD

Heritage Values of the City of Kandy from its residents’ perspective

Monthly Lecture No: 161

Thursday 27th June 2024 at 6.00 pm by Kapila D. Silva, PhD

Ancient Glass Bottle Finds from Sri Lanka's Sea-bed

Monthly Lecture No: 160

Thursday 25th April 2024 at 6.00 pm By Dr. Malik Fernando

Intaglios: the rich heritage of Sri Lanka’s movable cultural objects

Monthly Lecture No: 159

Thursday 28th March 2024 at 6.00 pm By Luxshman Nadaraja

Temple Paintings during Colonial Period

Monthly Lecture No -158

Wednesday, 29th February 2024
By Prof. Chandanie Wanigatunge

Story of Thrones and Crowns of Sinhale Royalty

Monthly Lecture No – 157

Wednesday 31st January 2024 6.00 pm by Prof. Nimal de Silva

Hidden Gardens in the Giri Monasteries of Sri Lanka

Monthly Lecture No – 156

Thursday, 30th November 2023 6.00 pm by Dr. Shanti Jayewardene

Uncovering the Hidden Value of Trees, can they create a new economy to save us ?

Monthly Lecture No – 155

Wednesday, 26th October 2023 at 6.00 pm by Dr. Ranil Senanayake

Reversing cultural erasure: looking again at the photographs of E. A. Hornel

Monthly Lecture No – 154

Wednesday, 27th September 2023 at 6.00 pm by Antonia Laurence Allen

Koneswar Temple on Swami Rock, Trincomalee

Monthly Lecture No – 153

Delivered on Wednesday, 31st August 2023 at 6.00 pm By Angeline Ondaatjie

Use of Armour in Ancient Sri Lanka

Monthly Lecture No – 152

Delivered on Wednesday, 26th July 2023 at 6.00 pm By Mr. Anandalal Nanayakkara

Man-made Waterways of Sri Lanka’s Colonial Past: Conservation and its Potential Benefits

Monthly Lecture No – 151

Delivered on Wednesday, 28th June 2023 at 6.00 pm By Dr. Nilan Cooray

Prehistoric Sri Lanka

Monthly Lecture No – 150

Delivered on Thursday, 25th May 2023 at 6.00 pm By Dr. Nimal Perera

History and Future of Sri Lanka’s Elephants

Monthly Lecture No – 149

Delivered on Thursday, 30th March 2023 at 6.00 pm By Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando

Heritage Management and Preservation of Anuradhapura by Geographical Information System (GIS)

Monthly Lecture No – 148

Delivered on Thursday, 30th March 2023
at 6.00 pm by Prof. Nuwan Abeywardane

Serendipity: The Discovery of Sri Lanka’s Biodiversity Heritage

Monthly Lecture No – 147

Delivered on Thursday, 26th January 2023
at 6.00 pm by Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda

Kotte : An Ancient Capital Under Destruction

Monthly Lecture No – 146

Delivered on 24th November 2022 at 6.00 pm by Prasad Fonseka

Sinharaja World Heritage Site : The Lessor Known Facts

Monthly Lecture No – 145

Delivered on 27th October 2022 at 6.00 pm by Prof.Sarath Kotagama

The Discovery of Early Human Habitation (4000 BP):Southern Coast of SL

Monthly Lecture No – 144

Delivered on 29th September 2022 at 6.00 pm. By Samanti Kulathilake, PhD.

A Shared Heritage: Ibn Battuta in Sri Lanka

Monthly Lecture No – 143

Delivered on 25th August 2022 at 6.00 pm. By Ms. Ameena Hussein

Sri Lanka’s Lost Animals: The Pleistocene Period

Monthly Lecture No – 142

Delivered on 28th July 2022 at 6.00 pm. By Mr. Kelum Nalinada Manamendra-Arachchi

The History of the Museum in India

Monthly Lecture No – 141

Delivered on 27
th January 2022 at 6.00 pm. By Prof. Romila Thapar.

Landscaped Garden Complex of Ranmasu Uyana, Anuradhapura.

Monthly Lecture No – 140

Delivered on 25th of November 2021 by Eng (Dr.) Chandana Jayawardana

Underwater War Heritage: World War I & II – Unravelling Deep Mysteries

Monthly Lecture No – 139

Delivered on 28th October 2021 by Mr. Dharshana Jayawardena

Ancient Irrigation in Sri Lanka: Some Issues Pertaining to Cascade Systems, their Origins and Functional Linkages

Monthly Lecture No – 138

Delivered on 30th September 2021 by Mr. Prof. C M Madduma Bandara

The Art of Gandhara – Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan

Monthly Lecture No – 137

Delivered on 26th August 2021 by Prof. Nimal de Silva

The Dutch Hospital in Colombo: pre-2012, A story untold

Monthly Lecture No – 135

Delivered on 23rd June 2021 by Dr. Gamini Wijesuriya

Publications

The National Trust has the Published a large number of books on subjects of great heritage value

Traditional Jewellery of Sri Lanka

This publication aims to give a general introduction to Sinhalese jewellery and to understand its significance beyond its use as a mere object of beauty. 

About this book

Gammadu Mangallaya – Kandyan Tradition

Gammadu can be identified as rituals held in order to ward off mosquito-borne and other diseases. Upcountry Gammadu festival is dedicated to....

About this book

The Art of Mask Making in Sri Lanka

Dr. Lionel Bentharage started his career as a low country dancer and in 1995 he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts….

Published 2014

About this book

Sri Lanka: Island of Islands

“Sri Lanka: Island of Islands” adds to the existing knowledge on the over 100 offshore small islands around the mainland of Sri Lanka.

Published on 2020

About this book

Coral Reefs of Sri Lanka

The Author Nishan Perera is a marine biologist with an interest in coral reef ecology and fish behaviour. He is an avid dive enthusiast…..

Published on 2011

About this book

The Sculpture of Tissa Ranasinghe

Neville Weereratne has been writing on art in Sri Lanka since the 1950s when he worked as a journalist on the Daily News.....

Published on 2013

About this book

Birds of Sri Lanka

Gihan de Silva Wijeyaratne qualified as a chartered accountant and worked in the “square mile” in London. Since his return to Sri Lanka, he has published 15 books relating to wildlife and travel.

Published on 2008

About this book

Sri Lankan Painting in the 20th Century

Professor Senake Bandaranayake is emeritus professor of archeology at the University of Kelaniya.
Professor Albert Dharmasiri was the former head of the School of Art, which now is the University of Visual and Performing Arts.

Published on 2009

About this book

Blog Articles

The National Trust encourages expressions of views of interested persons in academia and of repute to write about issues of interest; some articles of interest to be found in our blog site
blog-main

Quaint By-Ways and Nature’s Ways in Colombo in the 1940s

Source: Thuppahi.com Hugh Karunanayake, courtesy of THE CEYLANKAN, vol XXI/1, January 2018 where the title is “A Naturalist’s Paradise–Colombo in the 1940s”…

Published on 17th-Oct-2022

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Robert Knox’s Journeys in Ceylon and the World in the 17th Century: One

Source: Thuppahi.com Thiru Arumugam, in The Ceylankan, vol 25/1, February 2022 , where the title reads thus “A three-hundred-and-forty-year-old book about Ceylon – Part…

Published on 13th-Oct-2022

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2021-2022

It gives me the greatest honor to present this Report of the National Trust for the year 2021. Hard on…

Published on 30th-Sep-2022

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NATIONAL TRUST – SRI LANKA OFFICE BEARERS – YEAR 2022/2022

PRESIDENT - MR. N.G.WICKREMERATNE HONORARY PRESIDENT - PROF. NIMAL DE SILVA HONORARY PRESIDENT - DR. K. KANAG-ISVARAN PC CO-PRESIDENT -…

Published on 30th-Sep-2022

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The Demolition Of The 150-Year-Old De Soysa Building Is Underway – Roar Media

  Source: Roar Media

Published on 07th-Jul-2022

Culture blog-main

Travellers and traders: Muslims of Sri Lanka

Source: The Island Online In 851 AD, an Arab merchant, called Soleyman, wrote an account of his travels to the…

Published on 14th-Feb-2022

Art blog-main

Liberal Arts Perspectives

University of Bologna: ‘Medieval universities had five faculties: arts, philosophy, law, medicine and theology. Of these, the faculty of arts…

Published on 19th-Jan-2022

Heritage blog-main

Charting a new history, for a new future

Source: The Island For Sinhala nationalists, I daresay the history of Sri Lanka remains the history of the Sinhala people.…

Published on 01st-Jan-2022

Heritage blog-main

Museums through Prof. Thapar’s eyes

Source: The Island On Thursday, 27 January, Prof. Romila Thapar will deliver the Dr Roland Silva Memorial Lecture to the…

Published on 26th-Nov-2021

Projects blog-main

Partitioning water between agriculture and hydro-power to maximise Sri Lanka’s clean energy output

Source: The Island The largest drain on Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange earnings is in purchasing fossil fuels for power and…

Published on 12th-Aug-2021

Lecture blog-main

“Mantai” the great emporium of Cosmas Indicopleustes

Presentation by Dr Roland Silva on Mantai   Great Emporium - Manthai Part 1 [embed]https://youtu.be/wNUCjfdj0BA[/embed] Great Emporium - Manthai Part…

Published on 01st-Aug-2011

Lecture blog-main

Gateway to Mutual Heritage of Jaffna with special reference to Grid City

Grid City by Archt. Jayatissa Herath, Archt. Deepal Wijethilaka & Ms. Suganya Vinasithamby   Heritage of Jaffna - Grid City…

Published on 14th-Jul-2011

Tours

The National conducts quarterly Tours to places of historical and heritage interest. Records of past Tours are to be found with photograph in this section
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The first tour for the year was to Jaffna

The first tour for the year was to Jaffna on the 15th, 16th and 17th of March……

Published on 30th of March 2021