Marble Statue of Queen Victoria in Sri Lanka

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The marble statue of Queen Victoria on its original location

Queen Victoria (1819–1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 until her death, making her the second longest-reigning British monarch. Her era, known as the Victorian Age, was marked by industrial progress, imperial expansion, and significant social and political changes.

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 marked the 60th anniversary of her reign and was celebrated with grand events across the British Empire including in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) with various events, including the erection of a grand marble statue of the Queen.

On June 22, 1897, the Ceylon Legislative Council passed a resolution approving the erection of a statue of Queen Victoria on the island, funded by the government, to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee. The renowned British sculptor George Edward Wade was commissioned for the project, and a Carrara marble block, a prized white or blue-grey marble historically used in sculptures and architecture, was imported from Italy to London for the carving.

The completed statue arrived in Colombo in mid-1902, shortly after Queen Victoria’s passing. Standing 180 cm (71 in) tall, it was mounted on a 270 cm (109 in) high granite pedestal. On June 25, 1902, Lieutenant Governor Everard F. Im Thurn officially unveiled the statue at the junction of York Street and Church Street, near the Passenger Jetty of Colombo Harbour.

In the 1920s, the statue of Queen Victoria was relocated to Gordon Gardens, which was then part of the Governor’s Residence (now the President’s House). In 2006, under the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the statue was moved again to a site near the back entrance of the National Museum, though it was positioned away from public view. It is believed that this relocation was influenced by a superstition that the statue brought bad luck (Haviland, 2013).

The marble statue of Queen Victoria at the rear entrance of the National Museum facing Vihara Maha Devi Park

After seven years of bad luck to the statue, in 2013, it was repositioned once more ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). This time, it was placed in a more prominent location near its current site, now overlooking Green Path and facing Viharamahadevi Park—formerly known as Victoria Park until its renaming in 1958.

The marble statue of Queen Victoria has been relocated to its new home at the Victoria Dam in Teldeniya, Kandy. This marks the latest move in its long history, having originally been erected in Colombo in 1902 to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee.

In March 2024, the statue of Queen Victoria mysteriously disappeared, with no official explanation from the Colombo Municipal Council or the Sri Lanka Army when questioned by the media. However, it was later revealed that a decision had been made to relocate the statue to the Victoria Dam in Teldeniya, Kandy, approximately 110 kilometers from its original location in Colombo, where it had stood since 1902.

References

Haviland, C. (2013, October 3). Queen Victoria statue to be given a facelift in Colombo. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-24367051
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, June 9). Statue of Queen Victoria, Teldeniya. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Queen_Victoria,_Teldeniya

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