Taprobane Island (Weligama)

Last updated
Taprobane Island
Taprobane Island - 01.jpg
Taprobane Island (Weligama)
Geography
Location Sri Lanka
Adjacent to Indian Ocean

Taprobane Island, originally called "Galduwa" [1] ("Rock Island" in Sinhalese), is a private island with one villa, located just off the southern coast of Sri Lanka opposite the village of Weligama.

Contents

The island was renamed after the old Greek word for Sri Lanka by its owner Maurice Talvande (who styled himself as "Count de Mauny Talvande"), who sighted it around 1925 [2] after a long search for an earthly paradise. [3] He built its villa and replanted the island to create a private Eden. The islet passed on to the American author and composer Paul Bowles and then the Sri Lankan born former United Nations Chief Prosecutor Sir Desmond Lorenz de Silva before it came to the ownership of the Australian businessman Geoffrey Dobbs.

Notable people who stayed on Taprobane include Dutch author Peter ten Hoopen, who spent a month there in 1984 during civil unrest on the mainland, as well as Kylie Minogue, who composed a song about the island inspired by her stay titled "Taprobane (Extraordinary Day)". German artist Tomas Kurth stayed on Taprobane island in 1991 and, while on the island, painted it numerous times. Subsequently, the stay inspired him to create a series of paintings depicting stylised lonely islands. [4] Taprobane island inspired Jason Kouchak to compose "Dark Island" in his 1999 album Watercolours. [5] 5°58′04″N80°25′32″E / 5.96778°N 80.42556°E / 5.96778; 80.42556

The author Robin Maugham, who visited the island as a young man, and in the mid-1970s, considered the unique beauty and harmony of the villa had become compromised after de Mauny's death by partitioning and the loss of his furniture and fittings, and that the area itself had been despoiled by the construction of a new road along the mainland beach. [6] Since then, and particularly after the 2004 tsunami, substantial further residential development on the adjoining mainland has occurred.

While Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Fountains of Paradise takes place in "Taprobane", the setting is recognizably Sri Lanka, not this isle.

Literature

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capri</span> Island in Italy

Capri is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. The largest settlement on the island is the town of Capri. The island has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic.

Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.

<i>Duran Duran</i> (1983 video) 1983 video compilation by Duran Duran

Duran Duran is a video compilation, by the band of the same name, that is sometimes unofficially referred to in print as the Duran Duran video album or Duran Duran: The First 11 Videos. The pioneering video album won a 1984 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taprobana</span> Ancient Greek name for Sri Lanka

Taprobana, Trapobana, and Taprobane was the name by which the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka was known to the ancient Greeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Lavinia Hotel</span> Hotel in Sri Lanka

The Mount Lavinia Hotel, in Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka, is a 275-room hotel, situated at 100 Hotel Road in Mount Lavinia. It is recognised as one of the oldest and most famous hotels in the country. It has been continuously operating as a hotel since 1947, but was initially constructed as the governor's residence in 1806.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Hotel (Nuwara Eliya)</span>

The Grand Hotel is a four-star boutique hotel in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, that was built in the style of an Elizabethan-era manor house. The hotel has 154 rooms, including three presidential suites, four junior suites, including a governor's suite that have been maintained to preserve the traditional design. The Grand Hotel has a number of restaurants, bars and a billiards room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's Hotel, Kandy</span> Hotel in Kandy, Sri Lanka

The Queen's Hotel is an 80-room British Colonial style three star hotel, located at central hill capital Kandy in Sri Lanka. Located in the center of the city at end of the main street, this former Governor's residence is one of the oldest hotels in Sri Lanka with a history of over 160 years. It is currently managed by the Ceylon Hotels Corporation PLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Imperial, New Delhi</span> Hotel in New Delhi, India

The Imperial New Delhi is a historic luxury hotel opened in 1936 in New Delhi, India. It is located on Janpath, close to Rajiv Chowk. It was New Delhi's first grand hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nyanatiloka</span> German Buddhist monk

Ven. Nyanatiloka Mahathera, born as Anton Walther Florus Gueth, was one of the earliest Westerners in modern times to become a Bhikkhu, a fully ordained Buddhist monk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weligama</span> Town in Southern Province, Sri Lanka

Weligama is a town on the south coast of Sri Lanka, located in Matara District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. The name Weligama, literally means "sandy village" which refers to the area's sandy sweep bay. It is approximately 144 kilometres (89 mi) south of Colombo and is situated at an elevation of 9 metres (30 ft) above the sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galle Fort Hotel</span>

The Galle Fort Hotel in Sri Lanka is a 12-room boutique hotel, situated inside Galle Fort, Galle. The building was originally constructed in the 17th century, during the Dutch colonial period, as a private dwelling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Roman relations</span> Relations

The first documented relations between Ancient India and Ancient Rome occurred during the reign of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasur National Park</span> National park in Indonesia

The Wasur National Park forms part of the largest wetland in Merauke Regency, South Papua, Indonesia and has been one of the least disturbed by human activity. The high value of its biodiversity has led to the park being dubbed the "Serengeti of Papua". The vast open wetland, in particular Rawa Biru Lake, attracts a very rich fauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Lanka–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

Sri Lanka–United Kingdom relations, or British-Sri Lankan relations, are foreign relations between Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saman Villas</span>

Saman Villas is located in the fishing village of Aturuwella, near the south west coastal town of Bentota, Sri Lanka. Saman Villas opened its doors on Christmas Day in 1995. It is Sri Lanka's first boutique hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Oriental Hotel</span>

Grand Oriental Hotel or GOH is a 3 star heritage hotel, located in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Talvande, Count de Mauny Talvande</span> French-born British garden designer, writer and furniture maker

Maurice Talvande (1866–1941), self-styled as the Count de Mauny Talvande, was a French-born naturalised British garden designer, writer, and furniture maker. He is best known as the owner of Taprobane Island in Ceylon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Hammond Gibson Jr.</span> American poet

Charles Hammond Gibson Jr. was an American author from a wealthy Bostonian family who created the Gibson House Museum to preserve his family mansion as a Victorian time-box.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helga's Folly</span> Building in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Helga's Folly is an Art Nouveau boutique hotel situated in Kandy, Sri Lanka owned by Helga de Silva Blow Perera, daughter of Fredrick de Silva. Gregory Peck, Peter Finch, William Holden, Mahatma Gandhi, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Kelly Jones of the Stereophonics are some of the notable guests who stayed at the hotel. Jones went on to write and record the song "Madame Helga" after his stay at the hotel. Helga's Folly has been described as "insane, kind of creepy, but awesome at the same time."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomas Kurth</span> German artist

Tomas Kurth, also known as vanderkurth, is a German artist. He is active as a painter, sculptor, musician, and designer, among other fields. His works have been presented at numerous exhibitions and in a feature-film portrait.

References

  1. ↑ Ondaatje, Sir Christopher The Count haunts Taprobane,The Sri Lankan Anchorman, Toronto
  2. ↑ Green, Michelle (2014-12-26). "In Sri Lanka, an Island of Detachment and Desire". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  3. ↑ Maugham, Robin Search For Nirvana, W.H.Allen, London 1975, p. 151
  4. ↑ Schwarz, Julia (3 September 2010). "Einsame Inseln gibt es in der Bildbar nicht" [There are no lonely islands in Bildbar] (in German). Stuttgarter Zeitung.
  5. ↑ Top 10 private island holidays for private jet travellers, Jack Lockyer Accessed 2015-10-16
  6. ↑ Maugham, Robin Search For Nirvana, WH Allen, London 1975, pp. 151–3
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.