Jethawana Museum

Opened for public display in 1996, the Jethawana Museum is located within the ancient monastery complex of Jetavana in Anuradhapura. The museum building was a town hall in 1937 during the British period. Then later used as a museum. The museum Artefacts from the Jetawana monastery complex in Anuradhapura existed From the 3rd – 10th centuries AD

History of Jethawana Museum

The museum is a two-story building built in 1937 during the British colonial administration (1815-1948 A.D.) Senanayaka, 2020. According to a plaque attached to the building’s outer wall, it was designed by S.H. Peiris of the Billimoria & De Silva firm in Colombo and built by Arthur S. Fernando & Bros. (Senanayake 2020). It originally housed the Anuradhapura Urban Council’s Office and, later, the Anuradhapura Preservation Board.
Currently, the building houses the Jetavana Monastery’s site museum as well as the Jethavana Project Office. Roland Silva and Herne Ratnayaka’s tireless efforts resulted in the museum’s public opening in 1995. (Senanayaka, 2020).

Museum

The museum houses a collection of items discovered near the Jetavanaya site (Rambukwella, 2014). The majority of them, known as the Jetavana Treasure, was discovered buried at the base of the northern and eastern frontispieces (Vahalkadas) and beneath the upper stone paved terrace of the Jetavana Stupa (Jayasuriya, 2016). Local and foreign ceramic vessels, intaglio seals made of semi-precious stone and glass, Roman, Indian, and other coins, and over 300,000 beads made of clay, glass, stone, crystal, agate, carnelian, ivory, bone, shell, gold, and silver are among the artifacts (Jayasuriya, 2016). The museum also displays Buddhist and Hindu bronze: sculptured stones, inscriptions, bronze ware, metal objects, clay items, paintings, and other monumental remains.