Artillery gun found; hotel work put on hold

27 September 2015 01:54 pm

The work on a hotel project at Galle face has been put on hold following the discovery of a ancient artillery gun at the construction site on Saturday, Archaeology Department Director General Senarath Dissanayake said today.

He said the work was suspended in keeping with the law on the Prevention of Destruction and Theft of Antiques.

Dr. Dissanayake said his Department would dispatch its analysts and experts and a team of excavators to the site today.

“We will reveal the details to determine the era to which the gun may belong,” he said.

Meanwhile, the hotel project workers said they believed there might be more such artifacts on the site.

A worker at the site said the two rectangular pieces projecting out of the sides of the gun suggested that the 25 feet long gun must have been fixed to a stand or a carriage, which might have been buried underground over the years.

The gun was recovered on Saturday morning. A similar discovery was made at the Central Bank Premises some years ago.

Several historical records state that during the Dutch era several artillery guns were placed in and around the Galle Face area.  (Yohan Perera and Dharashana Sanjeewa)