Bogambara Prison, Former prison and cultural park in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Bogambara Prison is a former colonial jail on a plateau in Kandy with a rectangular layout and thick stone walls. The main building once held individual cells and has been converted into a cultural park where shops and guest spaces now occupy the grounds.

The facility was built in 1876 as a maximum security prison under British administration. It operated for over a century until inmates were transferred in 2014 and the site was given a new purpose.

The name Bogambara comes from the Bogambara Wewa, an artificial lake that the British Ceylon Government had filled in to create the prison grounds in the early 1870s. The site was opened to the public for four days in June 2018, together with Meda Wasala, the Kandy Municipal Council building and Ehelepola Walauwa, under a heritage programme led by the Urban Development Authority with the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The site is a 5.3-hectare compound centred on the three-storey main building, with the former prison hospital to its west. Phase I of redevelopment, completed in 2019 at a cost of about Rs. 125 million, improved the external surrounds; the interior conversion is Phase II. Check locally before planning a visit, as the site is being transformed into shops, workspaces and hotels.

This was one of only two authorized execution sites in Sri Lanka, reflecting its strict role in the justice system. Today that grim past fades into the background as the place now welcomes people for cultural activities and community gatherings.