Good museum

Sadly, this is a good place with a number of historic items, bad with bad management. Just see how these two-motor bikes of its staff have parked it blocking the entrance, obstructing the visitors’ entrance. A real shame on the authorities on how we invest in ourselves to attract tourists. The lighting inside is not the best, so warm, and few of the display cupboards are empty. The ticket fee for locals is just a mere Rs.20, but it could be increased and in return improve the service to its visitors.

The place is amazing. If you're visiting Galle Fort, don't forget to go to the museum also...There's lot of things to see and learn from the history..❤️️✌️

Set in a beautiful colonnaded white building that was built by the Dutch in the 17th century, the Galle National Museum won't take much of your time. It's still worth a visit because of the artifacts on exhibit and the very short history lesson that it will teach you about the city of Galle.

Ticket: LKR 50 per local adult and LKR 25 for children. The whole area can be visited within 20–25 minutes. Some archaeological artifacts are displayed here. There is a separate section that shows historical facts about the China-Sri Lanka bond. The place is easily accessible, and ample paid parking spaces are available.

Small but interesting museum. The 550 rupees you pay is an honest price for the 3 rooms you visit. I spent half an hour inside and got more knowledge from it. Make sure to visit the museum when you pass by Galle.

very small museum....but very important place in galle

V good place to visit....

The National Museum of Galle (Galle National Museum) is one of the national museums of Sri Lanka. It is located in the oldest remaining Dutch building in the Galle fort, Galle, a single storey colonnaded Dutch building built in 1656 as the commissariat store for the Dutch garrison at the fort. It subsequently served as a billiards room for the adjoining New Oriental Hotel (now the Amangalla Hotel). The building was renovated by the Department of National Museums and opened on 31 March 1986. The museum houses a limited collection of exhibits from the Portuguese, Dutch and British periods. It has three main galleries, the first contains collections relating to the area's cottage industries, primarily turtle shell jewellery manufacturing, Beeralu lace weaving and traditional wooden mask carving. The second contains a collection of Dutch period furniture and weaponry. The final gallery, the 'Sri Lanka China Friendship Gallery', was opened on 10 September 2013. It is dedicated to the historical and archeological evidence of trade relations between China and Sri Lanka, with displays on the Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian (337 – c. 422 CE) and the 14th Century Fleet Admiral Zheng He (1371 – 1433). Situated in a beautiful surrounding. Source: Wikipedia

The Galle National Museum is established in the oldest Dutch building of the Galle fort, constructed in 1656. To aware the public on traditional cultural heritage of Southern Sri Lanka, the Department of National Museums developed this museum and opened to the public on 31st March 1986. Galle National Museum displays a wide range of archaeological and anthropological objects inherited in Southern region. Collection of traditional masks used in various rituals, collection of ornamental objects made up of turtle shells, ancient wooden carvings and a Beeralu collection are important visitor attractive exhibits in the museum. The influence of Dutch is depicted by the equipments used in Dutch ships came to the Galle harbor. Large water vessels, V.O.C. porcelain objects and arms and weapons used by the Dutch soldiers are among the exposition. The Galle National Museum plays an important role as a center of education in the Southern region.

This museum is small one in the galle fort that has antient items such as swords pots some accessories made with sea turtle shells :( and Chinese accessories statues plates paintings. Very smal ticket price to enter. Photographs are not allowed inside the museum. But with a permit you can get photos.

(Translated by Google) A small museum, the fare is very cheap, 300 rupees per person. There are three halls in total. The guide, deemanka jayakodi, is very patient and explains the history of each item for me. His English is also good, but some words are beyond my understanding. He also translates them into Chinese. The third room is about the history of exchanges between Sri Lanka and China. It is worth a look. (Original) 一个小博物馆，票价很便宜，300卢比每人。一共三个厅，讲解员deemanka jayakodi非常耐心，为我讲解每一个物品的历史，他的英语也不错，只是有些词汇超出我的理解，他还为我翻译成中文。第三个厅是关于斯里兰卡和中国的来往历史，值得一看。

Small museum with a lot of history. One learns a lot. But it needs to be better organized in more space. The venue needs to be renovated with better lighting and air conditioning. English language guidebooks are a must.

This museum charges 50 for locals and 550 for foreigners. That's an insane markup, and I think travelers should band together to say no to being charged so much more than the place is willing to accept from locals. It's also a bad price. The museum itself is entirely forgettable, just three rooms, lacework. Why pay to see some dusty junk when there are so many good free galleries in Galle? Don't support places that try to take advantage of foreigners.

Actually as far as Museums go this was quite a pleasant surprise. The building itself is impressive as it is the oldest remaining Dutch building in the Galle fort, Galle It is just a single Storey colonnaded 1656 as the commissariat store for the Dutch garrison at the Fort. It is stacked with all sorts of museum pieces and I was delighted to be able to buy something from Sri Lanka for my grandchildren. So it was a very beneficial visit.

Amazing old museum. It’s very interesting and you can learn bit of history about the fort and those who wander around this place 100s of years ago.

Good to have this in Srilanka

Small but a good way to spend the time, good for history buffs.

Small museum... 🙂🙂

A really small musuem which takes approx. 10 to 20mins to see everything. Ticket price is 300rs for adults and 150rs for kids. Not much description but more of displaying hiatorical artifacts.

national museum

Interesting

Actually it is very helpful.

Historical monuments to see and understand ancient Sri Lanka.

Interesting

Beautiful historical place.

Small museum with interesting artifacts. Maintenance of the place not that good.

An amazing historical place

Quite small museum, anyway we got some knowledge. Some explanation tables are provided, what is good and so we could read about the history. In comparison with Polonaruwa museum, this one is much more informative. The historical museum in Galle Fort has a lot to say, but is not in such good condition than this one.

Can learn historical environment of Srilanka.

It was very interesting because we got a fantastic private guide tour with an very smart and highly informed Srilankan guide, for free. It is not so big so in total the tour lasted only one hour. Entrance fee is 300 lkr per person. After that you have a good overview on the srilankan history. Thank you very much.

Small museum but in my opinion you should go there,

Galle heritage

Its conttol under department of national museums..

Really lovely museum and staff with excellent knowledge. Nice size - small and intimate, with an interesting collection

My Google Review # 000095. Not much to see. Small museum. Saw this one on the way to Mirissa. Located inside the Galle fort premises. Wasn't anything worth seeing inside. Extremely hot and humid inside the premises too. Paid some 1000LKR per person, if I correctly remember. It mainly showcases the history of Galle as a fort and Sri Lanka being ruled by different dynasties. Though this may be interesting to children from knowledge perspective.

(Translated by Google) The place is interesting, but at one time. (Original) Местечко интересное, но на один раз.

(Translated by Google) nice (Original) 美

Very limited exhibits in a highly historical area that belongs to many cultures.

The National Museum of Galle has some wonderful exhibits. However, it could benefit from better lighting and more detailed descriptions. Since Galle is a major tourist hub, places like this that showcase our history and culture should be developed in detail and with better standards.

Though Galle is a UNESCO world heritage site the Historical mansion museum in Galle preserves the originality of the Tourism destination of Galle, Sri lanka. Since Portuguese were reached to Ceylon unexpectedly, they have influenced to develop, change and improve our culture. The historical mansion museum is a privately owned museum, initiated by Abdul gaffer. Abdul Gaffar, the creator was prompted to build this museum because of the ‘Salarjung museum’ in India. On behalf of that he collected and exhibits miscellaneous things. It must be pointed out that this mansion is a characteristically Dutch architectural feature. This supposed to be a stalwart attraction to draw attention of the tourists. On the other hand there are negative affections too. In 1640, Portuguese had to hand over the colonial country, Ceylon to the Dutch. Finally British conquered Ceylon and ruled till 1948. However all these invasions had been affected to the development of Galle. The mansion is settled in a grandeur colonial Dutch house. Further this may be the largest private museum in Sri lanka. Perhaps you may get amazed seeing the equipments placed in the museum. Rather it is not just a museum but a shop that sell stationary, table clothes, handicrafts, antiques, jewellery etc. Sometimes it will be a rare experience to buy such exhibited things (All most all the things are for sale) in a museum. A gem shop is also positioned in the museum. Looming over the museum you will be asked to see a live embroidery presentation (‘beeralu lace’) or a sapphire cutting and polishing. The embroidery art, done with ‘beeralu lace’ was a significant industry introduced by Portuguese. A wide range of bric a brac is preserved in good condition. Perhaps the climax of the museum deemed to be the Dutch well in the central court yard. There is a stone slab sculptured in1763. Chinese Porcelain plates and mugs which have the printed VOC symbol are recently preserved. Not only that but also there are fashionable tea cups and kettles, with printed head of Queen Elizabeth 2 in the museum. Significantly the museum doesn’t charge you a fee at the entrance. You can visit the national maritime museum situated near the fort too. Galle is famous for several industries like handicrafts made of turtle shells, and buffalo horns. While on stroll you may be capable to see them. For as much as turtles are faced to extinction these handicrafts are much rare.

They close it whenever they want just by putting a sticky piece of paper on their door where the open time is stated. What a shame.

Interesting things to see..

(Translated by Google) A huge fort built a long time ago that protects part of the city. You walk around the fort, and around the mighty power of water and indescribable beauty (Original) Огромный форт, построенный очень давно, который защищает часть города. Гуляешь по форту, а вокруг могучая сила воды и красота неописумая

Nothing here worth seeing. They have a whole section to glorify the Chinese. It’s more Chinese museum than Srilankan.

Can't believe that our heritage is this shallow and misrepresented at a national level museum. Other than the Chinese room, others are a representative of the state of the department of museum, not the Sri Lankan heritage. Needs a complete revamp!

It's okay for Rs.50

Very strange museum. Very small with little information. The only interesting part is how much the Chinese government have seemingly paid to insert their propaganda within the exhibit. So if you want to learn absolutely nothing about the fascinating history that surrounds Galle and instead read an entire room’s worth of thinly veiled anti-western Chinese government propaganda, this is the place for you!

Fantastic place 👌

Doesn't have many exhibits or artifacts.

Good place to visit. Tere are many things observe.

Nice place to visit. Good collection. Specially for who loves to see and learn history of sri lanka

Clean maintain by the local government

A good place to visit in Galle Fort. It has a good collection of items used in Sri Lanka specially in colonial time. If you are a Sri Lankan I recommend to go with kids so they can learn so much of things, specially cultural related items and if you are an outsider, you can still get a bunch of history related knowledge and see many unique items there.

Good

Good

Considerable amount of ancient equipment during Dutch time available.

Interesting little museum. Explained the history and also the impact of the tsunami in 2007.

It's located in an old Dutch building. Very informative. Pay a visit if you are going to Galle fort.

Information & Religion

It is a good place to learn the history of the Southern Province as well as the whole of Sri Lanka

A really small museum...

(Translated by Google) Very good place, currently under renovation, but still accessible. (Original) 很好的地方 ，目前局部在裝修 ，但仍然可以參觀。

Don't bother with this place, unless you need a few minute without sun. In My opinion the building is more inyeresting than exebition. Intersying room about sea expeditions.