St. Mary's Church

Negombo is heavily influenced by the Christian faith. In fact Negombo has been given the name ‘Little Rome’ due to the highly ornate Portuguese-era Roman Catholic churches such as St. Mary’s Church, which is one of the most important structures in Negombo. St. Mary’s Church is the biggest cathedral in Negombo and has a painted ceiling as well as alabaster statues of various saints. The church’s construction was started in 1874 and was completed after almost 50 years in 1922. It is also one of the larger cathedrals in Sri Lanka. Over 90% of the population of Negombo is Roman Catholic and as a result the church is quite an important building in the city. The architecture is majestic and the church has some nice paintings. It is known as Mahaweediya Palliya in the Sinhala language and is quite easy to find. The church consists of three main levels which are immediately apparent when approaching the structure from the front.