Clock Tower

An inscription on Galle Fort’s landmark Clock Tower reads: ‘This tower erected by public subscription to the perpetual memory of Peter Daniel Anthonisz (born in Galle) in testimony of his skill and benevolence in relieving human suffering. MDCCCLXXXIII [1883]’. It was a grateful testament to the medical skills of Dr Anthonisz, a renowned Burgher doctor who not only served as the Southern Province’s Colonial Surgeon, but was also on the Legislative Council. The actual clock was the gift of Mudaliyar Samson de Abrew Rajapakse, one of Dr Anthonisz’s grateful patients who was nursed back to health after a particularly debilitating illness.