{"id":118478,"date":"2021-09-22T16:46:27","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T23:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=118478"},"modified":"2021-09-22T16:46:27","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T23:46:27","slug":"the-jaffna-public-library-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/22\/the-jaffna-public-library-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"THE JAFFNA PUBLIC LIBRARY Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Jaffna public library was rebuilt twice. The library was fully renovated in 1984, with\ndonations from well-wishers around the world. \nBut the LTTE took up residence inside it and it was bombed. At the start\nof the project, the Municipal Council of Jaffna decided\nnot to repair the burnt building, but to let it remain as a memorial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second\nreconstruction began in 1998 and the library opened in 2004.  I went to see it and found the design\nridiculous. Among other things, it has two identical entrances, back and front,\nwith portico, and open verandah, with open access to stairs in the front\nentrance. Such entrances are more suitable for palatial houses than a\nlibrary.  But such houses would not have\nhad two entrances back and front either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new library got much support. National\nLibrary Board of Singapore helped with funds and also books. Library of\nCongress and Library Association, London, also helped this otherwise obscure\nlibrary. The National Library of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Library\nAssociation also helped. National Development Bank, Sri Lanka donated a large\nnumber of books as an attempt to \u2018revive this great landmark of Jaffna.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2009\nthere was a fresh call for donations. The Jaffna public library was one of the\noutstanding libraries of Asia, and in order to develop it public are invited to\ndonate books and send them to Gangarama, Kocchikade church, Kadiresan kovil,\nand Devata gaha palliya in Colombo, said the announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two private collections were donated, the\nPieter Keuneman collection and the library of R.L.   Spittel and his daughter, Christine.  Christine Wilson donated her library to the\nJaffna Public Library at the suggestion of Goolbhai Gunasekera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of\nthe USA to the United Nations, visited the library, in 2015 and   said the United States will fund \u2018the\nrestoration of ancient Tamil manuscripts in Jaffna\u2019.\u2019 After a welcome\nfrom a traditional Tamil Inniyam band, the ambassador met with staff members,\nsigned the library guestbook and viewed some of the  1000-year\nold palmyrah manuscripts that have survived to this day.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Swarna Purawara National Awards given by\nthe Local government and Provincial councils Ministry awarded the Best Local\nGovernment libraries award in 2014 to the Jaffna Public library.   <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nessay concludes with comments in Trip Advisor by foreign tourists who visited\nthe library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  •  Frankly it wouldn’t be a tourist attraction\nin many other cities but Jaffna doesn’t have many [tourist attractions]. <\/li>
  • Couldn\u2019t get very excited about this\nplace. It is rather dull.\u201d <\/li>
  • There\u2019s nothing unduly special about\nit, but it has great atmosphere and tradition.\u201d <\/li>
  • The building is quite impressive. You\ncan feel the enormous wealth of knowledge and history this place would have\nstored.\u201d  <\/strong>( concluded)<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    KAMALIKA PIERIS The Jaffna public library was rebuilt twice. The library was fully renovated in 1984, with donations from well-wishers around the world.  But the LTTE took up residence inside it and it was bombed. At the start of the project, the Municipal Council of Jaffna decided not to repair the burnt building, but to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}