Other sights in Batticaloa
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Old Batti
Wandering around Old Batti is particularly atmospheric late at night: cicadas call and water drips, but not a soul stirs on the eerily empty streets. Dim street lamps give lugubrious form to shadows around the various colonial edifices like the pompous sky-blue St Joseph’s Convent (St Mary’s St), St Michael’s College (Central Rd), which is so drenched in vines and creepers that the brickwork is starting to be broken away, and the sturdy 1838 Methodist Church (Post Office Rd). Of the dozens of churches, the most eye-catching is the huge blue, eight-sided, unfinished Our Lady of Sorrows (Trinco Rd), the vaguely Mexican, earth-toned St Anthony’s (St Anthony’s St) and the…
reviewed
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A
Dutch Fort
The 6m-thick walls of Batti’s Dutch fort surround the rambling kachcheri (administrative office). The fort itself contains government offices and isn’t very interesting, but the stroll along the eastern fringe between the walls and the water is nice. By the eastern entrance gate you’ll find a couple of old canons guarding the District Secretariat Office, while inside, on the 1st floor of the office opposite the entrance gate, is a stone slab engraved with a 1707 VOC inscription; it was recently removed from the fort walls and now balances precariously on a chair.
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B
Tiruchendur Murugan Alayam Temple
Built in 1984 as a stopping point on the Pada Yatra pilgrimage to Kataragama, its Murugan image is said to have opened its own eyes before the painter could do the job. The structure was slammed by the tsunami, leaving its small gopuram leaning at an alarming angle. Its colourful leaning tower sits near the beach between Third and Fourth Cross Sts.
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C
St Mary’s Cathedral
The grand, turquoise St Mary’s Cathedral is one of the most eye-catching churches. St Mary’s was rebuilt in 1994 following its partial destruction during fighting between local Tamils and Muslims.
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D
Anipandi Sitivigniswara Alayar
Of the many Hindu temples, Anipandi Sitivigniswara Alayar is visually the finest, with a magnificent gopuram that’s decorated with a riotous festival of intertwined god figures.
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E
Our Lady of Sorrows
Of the dozens of churches, the most eye-catching is the huge blue, eight-sided, unfinished Our Lady of Sorrows.
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F
St Sebastian’s Church
Beside Kallady Bridge is the fairly modern St Sebastian’s Church, built in the shape of a whale.
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G
St Anthony’s
The vaguely Mexican, earth-toned St Anthony’s is one of the most eye-catching churches.
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H
Auliya Mosque
The tiny Auliya Mosque has curious green minaret.
reviewed