A damaged survey tower is found on the northern coast of Mannar Island unknown by many travellers. It lies off a bare strip of sand on a beach covered with thorny bushes. The tower stands on a square base. On top of it is two cylindrical segments, the top one smaller than the bottom. If it had a had a 3rd column at the top, it’s not visible now.
The architectural features of this building resemble those of a church. The dilapidated building belongs to the Portuguese Period. There is no roof in the building and the thickness of a wall is about 2m. Specially prepared bricks have been used and the length, width and height of a brick are 1 foot, 8 inches and 2 inches respectively.
Adam’s Bridge, also called Rama’s Bridge, or Rama Sethu is a sting of shoals between Mannar Island, off the northwest coast of Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram Island, off the southeast coast of India. The so called bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast).
From the Mannar fort, travel 12 km on the Thalaimannar road, turn right at the Narapadu junction and go 1.4 km along the sandy road, where you can see this monolithic tower pointing towards the sky on the plain.
The new Talaimannar lighthouse in was built in 1915 and was 19m high. The tower has not been maintained for during the recent past due to the war situation which existed for the last 30 years.
This Baobab tree at Mannar is calculated to be 734 years old and is the largest tree in Sri Lanka in terms of the circumference which is 19.5 meters.
The Old Talaimannar Lighthouse (Urumalai Lighthouse) is located at that south of the island at the start of the Adams Bridge, the natural sand bank which stretch all the way to India. This area is called Urumalai, thus this is also known as Urumalai Lighthouse.
Vankalai, in the Mannar district, with its numerous bird species was declared as Vankalai Sanctuary in 2008, due the large number of birds residing in this area
The tombs of Adam and Eve in Mannar are legendary burial sites shrouded in local folklore. Featuring two elongated mounds measuring nearly 40 feet, these “giant” graves reflect early Muslim traditions linking the first humans to Sri Lanka’s Adam’s Bridge. It is a unique, cross-cultural landmark steeped in ancient mystery.
Built on the island of Mannar in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese in 1560, Mannar Fort surrendered to the Dutch on 22 February 1658 and was rebuilt by the Dutch in 1696. On 5 October 1795 the Dutch surrendered to the British.
