Sri Lanka has many fine traditional handicrafts which are the products of a continuing tradition of Singalese culture and craftsmanship. Descendants of the ancient craftsman can be seen creating crafts of rate elegance of various materials. Products of master craftsmanship are turned out using traditional techniques, tools and indigenous material. Displays of skilled workmanship which is individual in style and original. in its motifs are seen in and around the city in homes of craftmen, at art centres and also in gandicraft shops. materials used for these cottage industries vary widely, from fabric, rush and reed, metal, wood, ect.

The beat and the rhythm of Kandyan Dancing

      Kandy is famous for silver, brass ans copper work, wood carving , ceramics, lacquer work, hand-looms, batik, handmade jewellery of gold and silver, rush and reed work, ect. Exhibition hall of Kandyan Arts and Crafts Association beside the lake and the Government owned Arts and Crafts shop, Laksala present a good display of these items.

     Kandyan culture is also inseparable from the traditional arts of dancing and music. They are absorbed into the culture in various forms such as rites, rituals, productive activities, religions, monumental, ect. The origin of Sinhala dancing can be traced back to the Pre Buddhist era. The Kandyan dance (the dance of the up country) is one of the most advanced and free-standing form of art, in the evolutionary process of dancing. Associated with the annual rituals (the procession) of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Kandyan dancing has won international fame.

     Talking about the music around the Kandyan region for most, means the dominant,  vibrant,  submerging  sounds  of  the  drums.  As .an accompaniment for the Kandyan dancing,  drumming is a language that no ear can resist.

Paintings of the Era

Mostly patronized by the Kings and the art of painting. The paintings of the Kandyan period are very simple in character and technique; in other worlds they are a genuine from of  'folk art'. Most of the Temples in and around the city of Kandy are adorned paintings if this period.      All these forms of traditional arts, were usually done by village artists and craftsmen who maintained the broad tradition from the past. These artists unknown or or little known, some anonymous and self-trained, some highly skilled master-craftsmen, have carried with them, an aesthetic tradition which has survived and developed over centuries throught history and of which most are continuing still.      During the early part of British occupation, Kandy served as the administrative commercial center of the of the hill country for the colonial coffee planters and administrators. To cater for this demand, new house, hotels, churches, schools, offices, etc. were built on best locations in the heart of the City. Among these, Queens Hotel, Police Staion, Railway Hotel ( Present Kandy Post Office), the heritage city. The colonial architecture continued for nearly 150 years adding a social character to the growing city.

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