Ehelepola Walawwa to house wax museum

The Urban Development and Housing Ministry is planning to open a wax museum at the Ehelepola Walawwa, Kandy, depicting life in the Kandyan era.

The Walawwa, believed to have been built between 1800-1810, sits on a 141-perch land. It had been under the Prisons Department until 2013, when it was taken over by the Urban Development Authority.

The Urban Development Ministry has said the museum will feature the Kandyan period architecture, rites and rituals, traditions and culture, food culture, industries and economy, arts and handicraft.

Plans are afoot to include life-size wax statues of Monerawila Keppetipola Disawe, Ehelepola Maha Adikaram, Devendra Mulachari, members of the Ehelepola family and regional leaders who led the 1818 Uva Rebellion.

The Ehelepola Walawwa was captured by the British in 1818 and turned it into a prison. The first round of inmates comprised more than 50 high-profile leaders of the rebellion including Ehelepola Maha Adikaram and Keppetipola Disawe.

The renovation of the Walawwa, conducted under the supervision of scholars from the Department of Archaeology and the Central Cultural Fund with the assistance of the Army and the Navy, cost Rs 150 million.