King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe Prison Cell
The last (empty) packet of Gold Leaf cigarettes smoked on Sri Lankan soil by Ceylon’s last (allegedly tyrant) king is on display in this small but significant piece of Sri Lanka’s somewhat turbulent past.
The king, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, born in 1798, was captured by the British in 1815 in Kandy, taken to Colombo city with his two wives and housed for six years in the old Fort, where he relinquished the throne by signing the Kandyan Convention.
That done, he was promptly deported to India, and this prison cell, now located in a car park near to World Trade Center opposite the Bank of Ceylon Headquarters, is where he was held prior to departure.