| sri lanka
‘LAND LIKE NO OTHER’
In conversation with Shiranee Balasuriya
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Shiranee Balasuriya, a Chartered Landscape Architect, holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Newcastle, UK, and an M. Phil in Landscape Architecture from the University of Edinburgh, UK. She is the Past President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Landscape Architects (SLILA). Currently, she is a Senior Consultant at the Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
In a conversation, Shiranee discusses the legacy and state of the discipline of Landscape Architecture in Sri Lanka. How
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How does one define the evolution of Sri Lanka in terms of the relationship between natural and cultural histories? What are the landmark stages in its history of many millennia?
‘Ayubowan ‘ is a Sri Lankan traditional greeting that wishes you, the reader, ‘A long life’!
Sri Lanka is shrouded with myth and rich cultural diversity that dates back to the arrival of legendary prince Vijaya in 543 BCE, as recorded in the chronicle of ‘Mahavamsa’. The popular tales of King Ravana are also woven into the Sri Lankan prehistory, which reflects the sparkling times of a powerful emperor, who flew in a glider airplane, adding to Sri Lanka (formally known as Ceylon), a rich and colorful past. The Ravana sites dotted around the island have become tourist destinations adding the glamour of a bygone era.
Sri Lanka, with its unique geography of pristine beaches rolling hills forests, wetlands rivers, high biodiversity, resulting agricultural landscapes, and distinct climatic regions was known in the past by many names. The Greeks called the island Taprobane, a name derived from Sanskrit and illustrated in the Ptolemaic map. In Indian literature the country is referred to as ‘Para Samudra ‘, meaning ‘beyond the ocean’. Persians termed it Serendip from which the English word serendipity was derived, but the most ancient of names was Lanka...
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