Statue of Queen Victoria, Teldeniya

A statue of Queen Victoria was originally erected in front of the Passenger Jetty of Colombo Harbor and at the junction of York and Church Streets in 1897. The first monument to Queen Victoria in Ceylon, the marble statue was commissioned and unveiled in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The statue was commissioned to British portrait sculptor George Edward Wade. It was one of the only statues of Queen Victoria to be sculpted by him.

The statue was at its original location until mid-1920s and then it was moved to Gordon Gardens adjacent to the Queen's House. The statue moved from Gordon Gardens to Victoria Park and then to the Colombo Museum site in 2006. The statue was given a facelift ahead of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in 2013 and was reinstalled facing Green Path.

The statue was removed and reinstalled at Queen Victoria Dam as part of the plan to make the surrounding area of the dam a tourist attraction.

History


The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated in 1897 and many celebrations were held all over the colonies of the British Empire. The Ceylon Legislative Council, which met on June 22, 1897, passed a resolution stating that a statue of the Queen be erected on the island at the cost of the public revenue, and as a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the throne. This resolution was proposed by the Governor of British Ceylon and seconded by P. Coomaraswamy, the Tamil representative and it was taken as carried unanimously.

It took a few years to complete the statue. The state of the statue was once questioned at the Legislative Council in October 1901. That revealed the progress of the work and the acting Colonial Secretary, who was in London a few months ago, said that he inspected the model. The marble block, which was imported to London from Italy, was on its way to London at that point. The artist was the famous London-based sculptor, George Edward Wade.

The statue finally arrived in Colombo in mid-1902, after the death of the Queen. It was ceremonially unveiled on June 25 in 1902 by Lieutenant Governor Everard F. im Thurn. A large number of state and military officials, religious sector representatives, MC members, and local elites participated.

A news report of the day provided a good description of the statue: "it was made out of Carrara marble, imported from Italy. This marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble used for sculpture and building decoration from the ancient times. The statue of the queen was in coronation robes. It was mounted on a square pedestal of grey granite with an octagonal base. The total height was 21 feet and the weight was 13 tons."