Trincomalee, one of the world’s best natural deep-water harbors, is situated 257 kilometers north-east of Colombo, and regarded Sri Lanka’s business hub. Trincomalee is home to Nilaveli, Uppuveli and Pigeon Island’s great beaches. It has also recently become famous as a location for whale watching.
The Nilaveli and Uppuveli Dive Centers give tourists the chance to enjoy their diving, snorkeling and swimming holidays. In historical records and inscriptions, the Trincomalee district, referred to as Gokanna or Gokarna, is studded with a variety of ruins of ancient Buddhist temples and is regarded to be Sri Lanka’s main cultural and archeological Buddhist site.
Gokarna in Trincomalee, Mantota in Mannar and Dambakolapattuna in Jaffna, among others, were ancient Sri Lankan seaports since 543 B.C. Trincomalee, known as Gokanna, Gokarna or Siri Gonamala, is an ancient seaport town and is the port where Prince Panduvasudeva, the nephew of King Vijya, sailed from Sinhapura, India to Sri Lanka, as recorded in the historical chronicles of Sri Lanka.
There are many historical sites in Trincomalee and some of them are discussed below.
The Velgam Vehera Buddhist Monastery –
The ancestral Buddhist monastery of Velgam Vehera is situated on the Trincomalee–Horowupothana highway, 16 km southwest of Trincomalee. An inscription is found on a rock halfway up the mountain where the remains of a stupa belonging to the reign of Batiya Maharaja or King Bhatika Tissa II (around 149 A.D.) are located.
Ancient Site at Kuchchaveli –
The torso of a statue of the limstone Buddha was discovered on this site. The statue is a lovely Amaravati-style job. Large amounts of pieces of flat tiles and bricks were discovered. There may have been a monastic Anuradhapura period establishment situated at this site. A sculpture composed of 16 dagaba presentations is placed on a rock boulder at the foot of a hillock.
