{"id":157377,"date":"2026-07-19T15:54:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=157377"},"modified":"2026-07-19T15:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:54:48","slug":"re-visiting-st-pauls-church-built-in-the-immediate-square-of-sri-dalada-maligawa-and-flagrant-violation-of-article-5-of-the-kandyan-convention-1815","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/07\/19\/re-visiting-st-pauls-church-built-in-the-immediate-square-of-sri-dalada-maligawa-and-flagrant-violation-of-article-5-of-the-kandyan-convention-1815\/","title":{"rendered":"Re &#8211; visiting St. Paul&#8217;s Church built in the immediate square of Sri Dalada Maligawa and flagrant violation of Article 5 of the Kandyan Convention (1815)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>AI Overview<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>St. Paul&#8217;s Church was built in 1846 in contempt of the sanctity of Sri Dalada Maligava, in flagrant violation of Article 5 of the Kandyan Convention 1815, and betrayal of the trust of the Buddhists and their unqualified opposition to imposing a Church in the immediate vicinity of the sacred Temple of the Tooth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The construction of St. Paul&#8217;s Church, Kandy carries a <strong>highly contentious colonial history<\/strong> that directly intersects with local religious sentiments and the terms of British rule in Sri Lanka. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpaulschurchkandy.lk\/history.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/St._Paul%27s_Church,_Kandy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/178190908987794\/posts\/2811348992338626\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpaulschurchkandy.lk\/history.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Historical Context and Grievances<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Kandyan Convention Violation<\/strong>: Critics and local historians point out that building a Christian church within the immediate square of the Sri Dalada Maligawa violated <strong>Article 5 of the Kandyan Convention of 1815<\/strong>. This article explicitly guaranteed that the Buddhist religion, its rites, and its places of worship would be maintained and protected as sacred by the British Crown. [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kandyan_Convention\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpaulschurchkandy.lk\/history.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/dr.lib.sjp.ac.lk\/handle\/123456789\/926\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Encroachment on Sacred Grounds<\/strong>: The church was erected on land historically known as <em>Alakolamediththa<\/em> or <em>Ehelepolawatte<\/em>, situated right next to the <strong>Temple of the Tooth<\/strong> and the ancient <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Magul_Maduwa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Magul Maduwa<\/a> (Royal Audience Hall). For many Buddhists, placing a prominent symbol of British ecclesiastical power directly adjacent to their holiest shrine was viewed as an act of defiance against the local faith. [<a href=\"https:\/\/amazinglanka.com\/wp\/st-pauls-kandy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.cp.gov.lk\/en\/destination\/kandy-district\/st-pauls-church-kandy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RadissonHotelKandy\/posts\/explore-the-church-of-st-paul-a-historical-landmark-in-kandy-built-in-1846-its-g\/782709837372554\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Audience Hall Dispute<\/strong>: Before the physical church opened for worship in <strong>1846<\/strong>, the British military garrison and colonial officials frequently used the <a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.cp.gov.lk\/en\/destination\/kandy-district\/st-pauls-church-kandy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Magul Maduwa<\/a> itself for Christian services. Local Sinhalese populations protested this use of a royal Buddhist hall for Christian worship. In response, the colonial administration insisted that judges, lawyers, and military personnel required a dedicated Anglican church to swear oaths before God, leading to the allocation of the nearby land. [<a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.cp.gov.lk\/en\/destination\/kandy-district\/st-pauls-church-kandy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpaulschurchkandy.lk\/history.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/amazinglanka.com\/wp\/st-pauls-kandy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Resolution and Current Status<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The modern management of the area has sought to balance historical grievances with preservation. When the surroundings were demarcated into the official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankapradeepa.com\/2019\/10\/st-pauls-church-kandy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kandy Sacred City Precinct<\/a>, certain secular facilities, such as the adjacent St. Paul&#8217;s College school, were physically relocated to respect the boundaries of the temple. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankapradeepa.com\/2019\/10\/st-pauls-church-kandy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/amazinglanka.com\/wp\/st-pauls-kandy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, despite requests from some Buddhist factions over the decades to completely remove the structure, St. Paul&#8217;s Church was left intact due to its <strong>archaeological and architectural significance<\/strong> as a Grade II listed colonial heritage site. Today, while it remains a reminder of colonial-era religious imposition, it is also frequently cited by local tourism authorities as a complex symbol of the multicultural and multi-religious history of Kandy. [<a href=\"https:\/\/srilankatourhelp.org\/articles\/st-pauls-church-kandy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RadissonHotelKandy\/posts\/explore-the-church-of-st-paul-a-historical-landmark-in-kandy-built-in-1846-its-g\/782709837372554\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tourism.cp.gov.lk\/en\/destination\/kandy-district\/st-pauls-church-kandy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Would you like to explore <strong>archival documents<\/strong> regarding the protests against the church, or read the exact phrasing of <strong>Article 5 of the Kandyan Convention<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/4zCiUOWXXW26d3e6s\">https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/4zCiUOWXXW26d3e6s<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AI Overview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI Overview St. Paul&#8217;s Church was built in 1846 in contempt of the sanctity of Sri Dalada Maligava, in flagrant violation of Article 5 of the Kandyan Convention 1815, and betrayal of the trust of the Buddhists and their unqualified opposition to imposing a Church in the immediate vicinity of the sacred Temple of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157377","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=157377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157378,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157377\/revisions\/157378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}