Central Telegraph Office, Colombo

Central Telegraph Office
General information
Town or cityColombo
CountrySri Lanka
Completed1910 or 1911

The Central Telegraph Office is a building in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that housed the Ceylon Telegraph Department, the precursor to Sri Lanka Telecom.[1] It is situated at Colombo fort along Duke Street, across from the headquarters of the Colombo Metropolitan Police; it was built in 1910 or 1911 and is used by Sri Lanka Telecom.

Radio Ceylon began its initial broadcasts from this building in 1923 with transmitting equipment from a captured World War I German U-boat.[2] A bomb was detonated in the building in 1986 by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) an outlawed Sinhalese group, resulting in the deaths of 14 people and causing much damage to the building.[3][4] It underwent a restoration following this incident.

  1. ^ Fazlulhaq, Nadia (8 September 2013). "This is to announce the death of the telegram. Stop". The Sunday Times. Sri Lanka. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  2. ^ Corea, Ivan (2007-01-09). "SLBC celebrates 40 years in broadcasting". Daily News. Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  3. ^ "Editorial, Daily News". Priu.gov.lk. 19 March 2001. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  4. ^ "Bomb kills 10, Injures 100 in Sri Lanka". Los Angeles Times.