Moon Museum at Peradeniya: A Living Classroom of Sri Lanka's Green Heritage

Today...Pera opens Alexander Moon Commemorative Museum

- BY IFHAM NIZAM

On a lush bend of the Mahaweli, just outside Kandy, lie 147 acres of living history. The Royal Botanic Gardens of Peradeniya are no mere park; they are a chronicle of Sri Lanka's evolving relationship with nature – a living encyclopaedia of trees, orchids, spices and stories.

Their origins stretch back to the 14th century, when King Vikramabahu III established the site as a royal garden. Under Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe, it became a pleasure ground where monarchs and monks strolled under the shade of rare trees. After the British takeover in 1815, it was transformed into a testing ground for coffee, cinnamon and other lucrative crops while also becoming a centre of scientific learning.

"Peradeniya was never just about beauty," says Dr. Ravindra Kariyawasam, Environmental Advisor to the Ministry of Environment. "It has always been about knowledge, about linking people to the ecosystems around them."

By the mid-1800s, Peradeniya was being modelled on Kew Gardens in England. Dr. G.H. Thwaites and Henry Thumann introduced new species, spearheaded experiments and oversaw the arrival of rubber. By the turn of the 20th century it was both a showpiece and a laboratory.

A Garden of Thousands

Today the gardens boast over 4,000 plant species, including:

300 types of orchids in a dedicated house

Medicinal gardens and spice collections – cinnamon, pepper, cardamom

Exotic giants such as the Double Coconut Palm, Cannonball Tree, Giant Bamboo of Burma, and Ceylon Ironwood

Every year, about two million visitors pass through its gates, making Peradeniya Sri Lanka's largest and most beloved botanic garden. Schoolchildren sit sketching by the Bo Tree while wedding photographers capture couples under the towering Javan fig.

Alexander Moon's Legacy Revived