Galle Face Green

Galle Face Green is an open strip of land on the seafront of Colombo. The Colombo Municipal Council describes the promenade as a ribbon of about 5 hectares between Galle Road and the Indian Ocean, and as the largest open space in the city. Sri Lanka Tourism notes that it marks the start of the Galle Road out of Colombo and lies about 2 kilometres from Fort railway station.

Large hotels border the green, and the Municipal Council notes that the surrounding land has been marked for further city development. Towards the Fort stands the old Parliament building, which the Parliament of Sri Lanka describes as fronting the ocean at Galle Face.

Sri Lanka Tourism records that the area was first planned by Governor Sir Henry George Ward in 1859. Its early uses were sporting. The green was used at first for horse racing and as a golf course. Cricket was also played there, and people came to fly kites and to walk beside the sea.

Signs of a military past remain close by. Sri Lanka's Ministry of Finance, which shares the old Parliament building, points to an old cannon on the edge of Galle Face that still faces the Indian Ocean. The Ministry suggests it may be a reminder that the place was once a military stronghold. The sources opened for this article do not say who placed it there or when.

The main public building on Galle Face was planned in the early twentieth century. The Ministry of Finance records that Governor Sir Henry McCallum first raised the idea in 1912. In 1920 the government accepted a proposal to build a Secretariat, Council Chamber and offices on reclaimed land at the northern end of Galle Face. Plans for a building of three floors were approved in April 1925.

The architect was A. Woodson, Chief Architect of the Public Works Department. His design had an open outlook so that the sea breeze crossing the green would ventilate the building. Because the land had been reclaimed from the Beira Lake, the foundations were specially reinforced. Stone for the basement was quarried at Ruwanwella, about 40 miles from Colombo. Governor Sir Herbert Stanley opened the building on 29 January 1930.

The building beside the green housed the country's legislature for more than fifty years. The Parliament of Sri Lanka records that it remained there until April 1982, when the legislature moved to the new complex at Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte. The old building now houses the Presidential Secretariat and the Ministry of Finance.

The green remains public ground and a place for state occasions. The Sri Lanka Air Force reported that the 76th National Independence Day celebrations were held at Galle Face Green on 4 February 2024, with a ceremonial march past, a fly past and a display by parachutists.

On ordinary days it serves the city as open space. Sri Lanka Tourism recommends it as a place to watch the sun set, and the Urban Development Authority's plan for Colombo cites the green as an example of recreational space open to every group in the community.