THE VILLAGE OF COPPER & BRASS

Top Brass

Every so often, as you travel the island, you hit upon a village dedicated to the production of one item. There’s one that does large ceramic pots. Another is lined with cane wavers. One, more perilously, is devoted to the creation of fireworks. Down south is one for moonstones; another for masks. 

And in Kandy, there is one for brass and copper.

Kandy Brasswear Village keeps alive one of the island’s classic traditional handicrafts. Its tiny throughfare is lined with kiosks and workshops dedicated to the manufacture and sale of all things brass and copper.
Its expertise dates back at least to the last kings of Kandy, for whom they were usually busy turning out bowls, ornaments, religious objects, and body decorations.

Three hundred years later, they remain, melting and moulding, designing and decorating, stamping and sealing, engraving and polishing, giving their visitors the chance to see how their purchases are actually created.

The village, lingering on the western side of Kandy, isn’t actually called Kandy Brassware Village of course – but Pilimathalawa, and is notable for more than mere brass. It is a stone’s throw from the Gadaladeniya, Lankathilaka and Embekka temples – masterpieces of medieval architecture that few visitors ever see. 

The town is also home to the Theological College of Lanka, an unusually ecumenical union of Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians dedicated to teaching new ministers in Sinhala and Tamil.