Temple of the Tooth Museum, museum in Kandy, Sri Lanka

The Temple of the Tooth Museum, also known as Sri Dalada Museum, occupies the first and second floors of the New Palace building (Aluth Maligawa) within the Temple of the Tooth complex in Kandy. The first floor displays historical records, lists of chief prelates and Kandyan kings, portrait busts, and wall carvings exposed by a 1998 bomb blast. The second floor holds religious artifacts, including silver water pots and lamps, jeweled regalia, and a relic casket.

The museum occupies the first and second floors of the New Palace, a building erected by former Diyawadana Nilame T. B. Nugawela. It was created on the initiative of another former Diyawadana Nilame, Neranjan Wijeyeratne, to display the gifts and offerings kept in temple storerooms. Its layout was designed by Professor Leelananda Prematilaka and his staff under the UNESCO-Sri Lanka Cultural Triangle project.

The museum is named after the Temple of the Tooth, which houses the relic of the Buddha's tooth. It displays gifts offered to the relic over centuries by pilgrims, royalty and foreign rulers, including a painted replica of the Buddha's footprint sent by King Borom Kot of Thailand and a relic casket containing remains of the Thera Moggliputta.

Visiting requires respectful clothing since this is a sacred place, and shoes are not allowed inside. Plan time for both floors and be prepared to use steep stairs to see all the displays.

The relic casket on the second floor holds the bodily relics of Thera Moggaliputta, the monk who led the Third Buddhist Council under Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. It sits among gifts from Thai and Burmese kings, including a painted copy of Buddha's footprint sent by King Borom Kot of Thailand.