Attractions

Galle Face Green is located in the heart of the city along the Indian Ocean coast, and is a
destination for tourists and residents alike. The Galle Face Hotel is a historic landmark on the
southern edge of this promenade.

Gangaramaya Temple is one of the most important temples in Colombo. The temple's
architecture demonstrates an eclectic mix of Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian, and Chinese architecture.
[31]

The Viharamahadevi Park (formerly Victoria Park) is an urban park located next to the National
Museum of Colombo and the Town Hall. It is the oldest and largest park in Colombo and
features a large Buddha statue.

As part of the Urban Regeneration Program of the Government of Sri Lanka, many old sites and
buildings were revamped to modern public recreational spaces and shopping precincts. These
include Independence Memorial Hall Square, Pettah Floating Market and Old Dutch Hospital
among others.

Demographics

The Seema Malakaya of the Gangarama Temple in the Beira Lake in the Slave Island area, is
one of many religious structures in Colombo

Colombo is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural city. The population of Colombo is a

mix of numerous ethnic groups, mainly Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, and Sri Lankan Moor.
There are also small communities of people with Chinese, Portuguese Burgher, Dutch Burgher,
Malay, and Indian origins living in the city, as well as numerous European expatriates. Colombo
is the most populous city in Sri Lanka, with 642,163 people living within the city limits.[32] In
1866 the city had a population of around 80,000.[33]

Religion in Colombo Municipality area(2012)[34]

  Buddhism (31.4%)
  Islam (31.2%)
  Hinduism (22.6%)
  Christianity(Roman Catholic) (10.8%)
  Other Christians (3.7%)
  Others (0.1%)

Ethnicity in Colombo Municipality area (2012)[35]

  Sinhalese (36.9%)
  Sri Lankan Tamil (29.6%)
  Sri Lankan Moor (29.0%)
  Indian Tamil (2.2%)
  Others (5%)

Government and politics

Colombo Municipal Council

Local government

Colombo is a charter city, with a mayor-council government.[36] The mayor and council members
are elected through local government elections held once in five years. For the past 50 years the
city had been ruled by the United National Party (UNP), a right leaning party, whose business
friendly policies resonate with the population of Colombo. However the UNP nomination list for
the 2006 Municipal elections was rejected,[37] and an Independent Group supported by the UNP
won the elections.[38] Uvais Mohamed Imitiyas was subsequently appointed Mayor of Colombo.
[39]

The city government provides sewer, road management, and waste management services, in case
of water, electricity, and telephone utility services the council liaises with the water supply and
drainage board, the Ceylon electricity board, and telephone service providers.

National capital

Colombo was the capital of the coastal areas controlled by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the
British from the 1700s to 1815 when the British gained control of the entire island following the
Kandian convention. From then until the 1980s the national capital of the island was Colombo.
During the 1980s plans were made to move the administrative capital to Sri Jayawardenepura
Kotte and thus move all governmental institutions out of Colombo to make way for commercial
activities. As a primary step, the Parliament was moved to a new complex in Kotte, and several
ministries and departments were also moved. However, the move was never completed. Today
many governmental institutions still remain in Colombo. These include the President's House,
Presidential Secretariat, Prime Minister's House (Temple Trees), Prime Minister's Office, the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, important government ministries and
departments; such as Finance (Treasury), Defence, Public Administration & Home affairs,
Foreign affairs, Justice and the Military headquarters, Naval headquarters (SLNS Parakrama),
Air Force headquarters (SLAF Colombo) and Police national and field force headquarters.[40][41]

Cityscape

Aerial sunset view