Old Colombo Dutch Hospital – Colombo, Sri Lanka - Atlas Obscura

Old Colombo Dutch Hospital

This popular shopping mall and eatery once provided scant comfort to sick colonials and seafarers. 

1
0

In the heart of Columbo, Sri Lanka is a modern shopping precinct that has a fascinating past. It’s believed to be the oldest building in the “Colombo Fort” area of the city.

Constructed before 1651, this building was built as a hospital for employees of the Dutch East India Company when the Dutch controlled the island. It was also used to treat Dutch seafarers who arrived at the port. Apparently, the conditions were not too comfortable. Most patients were only provided with a mat to lay upon. Only the sickest received a mattress.

After the British took over as the colonial power in the late 18th-century, the hospital fell out of use. For many years, the former hospital housed Colombo’s apothecaries. 

It served as a police station for the Fort area in the 1980s and 1990s. It was heavily damaged during a Tamil separatist attack in 1996. In 2011, it was converted into its present use as a shopping mall with several high-end shops and a selection of places to eat including the first restaurant opened in the Ministry of Crab seafood chain.

The conversion to the old building has been done very sympathetically and the architecturally important features are well preserved. As with many urban redevelopment projects in Colombo (including the nearby Pettah Floating Market), the restoration was carried out by the army.

The building has five wings forming two courtyards and has walls half a meter thick to keep out. 

Know Before You Go

Opposite the Colombo World Trade Centre towers and the Bank of Ceylon head office.


Both eating places and shops tend to be expensive with prices and goods aimed at tourists and the capital's growing wealthy middle class. Some of the restaurants are very popular and reservations are often essential. 


This area around the Old Dutch Hospital is rife with unofficial "guides." Do not get into an un-metered tuk-tuk with one of these individuals. 

Community Contributors