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Galle
Fort should not be a money making machine With the formation of this committee, it seems the residents of Galle Fort stumbled into a moment of clarity. We are not talking here of some intangible philosophy or of abstracts; we are talking of the preservation of one of the world's greatest living heritages. The Galle Fort, which is under the protection of the UNESCO program, is under the very real threat of extinction. Galle Fort whose particular physical landmark is of European Influence, but whose intimate and bustling ambiance is reinterpreted in a picturesque local idiom, is lively in its architectural structure, consisting as it does of a continuous criss-crossing of alleyways and lanes. The Maze of alleyways, by-lanes and the warren of houses, built one behind the other are enclosed by the rugged ramparts and have been a home for centuries to a people who are culturally, intellectually and socially distinct from those surrounding them. The Fort's once undeniably fashionable character is reflected in the very spirit that distinguishes the town. The Muslims, the Burghers, the Sinhalese, and the Tamils knitted together a rich social fabric whose interdependent relationships based on communal harmony and religious equanimity thrived and grew. Just how much power those relationships created was evident in the unity of the social order that preserved the unique multi-ethnic culture of that community. Aspects of the more popular life - the rickshaws and the 'buggy cart', the charming mode of transport that seemed redolent of folklore than real life fazed out years ago and the vendors who strolled through the little roads with carts full of vegetables of fresh fish are a dying breed. Today, this magnificent culture is under attack, aided and abetted by no less a machinery than the State and the residents proper of the Fort. The problems of the Fort are multi-faceted. The development-planning unit (DPU) of Building And Urban Design For Development (BUDD) at The University College London recently undertook a field study of the Fort. Their report is comprehensive and constructive. Researching various components and strategies, it outlines practical solutions to the development of the fort and this study could be used as a base for its reconstruction. "Methodology, Core Issues and Objectives, Heritage Conservation and Development Issues, Effective Governance an Public Forum" are some of the subjects addressed. Their recommendations aimed at resolving the problems merit a close analysis and I believe that we have to priorotise our objectives and focus on the ground realities that face the community. The government needs to understand that Galle Fort cannot be used as an industrialized money making machine. Galle Fort is not an economy. Economic systems are concerned essentially with the production and distribution of material goods. Monetary gain is a primary condition. Although the Service and Tourism Industry are now the major shakers and movers, contributing to the economy of the country, Galle Fort as a World Heritage Monument, cannot be sacrificed to the economic forces of Tourism, for the greater majority of the people, and for the minor, a degree of power over the lives of others, which no man ought to have. Hardship and economic motives have played a part for the residents of the Fort, in the barter of their heritage, and the need amply fed by unscrupulous men propelled by greed and acquisitiveness. Killing the goose that laid the golden egg, in the mad rush for the gold. The times through which we are passing have afforded many of us a confirmation of our faith, and we see the vices we thought evil are really evil. We know in which direction man must move if are to save ourselves and the Fort from hurtling into destruction. (An address made at the first public meeting of the Galle Fort World Heritage Protection Society at the Sri Sudharmalaya Vihara, Galle Fort.) |
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