Arcade Independence Square

Arcade Independence Square is a good example of how Colombo has brought its colonial buildings back into use. The complex stands beside Independence Square in Cinnamon Gardens, and its buildings have an unusual history. They were completed in 1889 at a cost of Rs 450,000 as the Jawatta Lunatic Asylum, also called the Cinnamon Gardens Asylum. Planning had begun in 1875 under Governor William Gregory to replace an older facility at Borella, construction started in 1879, and the asylum became overcrowded within years, with patients moved to a larger hospital at Angoda by 1926.

Over the following decades the buildings were used by University College, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, the Public Administration Department, the Auditor General's Department and the Government Analyst's Department. In 2012 the Urban Development Authority began renovating them, spending Rs 550 million while preserving original features, and the arcade was officially opened on 13 July 2014.

Today it holds more than 40 stores and services and is a pleasant place to browse. Its best-known tenant is the Empire Cineplex, run by Ceylon Theatres and described as Sri Lanka's first boutique cinema, a good option for an evening or a rainy afternoon.

An hour is enough to look around, longer if you are eating or seeing a film, and the restored 19th-century buildings are a pleasant contrast with Colombo's modern malls. The renovation is also a reminder of how much of the city's colonial building stock survives, often hidden behind later uses.

Independence Memorial Hall, the national monument built from 1949 to 1953 on the model of the Kandyan royal audience hall, is next door and makes a natural pairing. It was designed by a team led by Tom Neville Wynne-Jones, has a statue of the first prime minister, D. S. Senanayake, at its head, and houses the Independence Memorial Museum, so the two sites together give a rounded picture of the area's colonial and post-independence history. The National Museum and Viharamahadevi Park are a short tuk-tuk ride to the north, so the arcade is an easy way to end a day of sightseeing in Cinnamon Gardens with a meal or a coffee.