Suriyakantha: an Art of Living in the Tropics

Publisher: Éditions Suriyakantha | Year of publication: 2026 | Price : LKR 9,900
Binding: Hardcover with dust jacket | Pages: 132 | Illustrations: Colour

With the support of Connaissance de Ceylan / Thema Collection

ABOUT THE BOOK

From gardens to verandas, from vast reception rooms to intimate private spaces, from dimly lit corridors to the spectacular courtyard, the eye wanders—drawn forward yet gently held back—moving from brightness to penumbra, from profusion to quiet restraint. The light, never insistent, reveals the patina of period furniture, brushes the humid foliage, glides along the whitewashed walls, then withdraws, leaving behind silence and coolness.

Once an aristocratic residence of the Kandyan Kingdom, Suriyakantha is now a Centre for Art an Culture where every object becomes a page of history—the history of kings and peasants, of the island’s communities, from Veddas to Sinhalese and Tamils, of encounters between natives and colonisers, of skills and knowledge that once shaped entire ways of life. Rooted in history, it remains profoundly alive: a place where nature converses with culture, and where every space invites slowness and contemplation.

Push open the door, and let yourself be guided.

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

…At the heart of Suriyakantha lies a simple yet essential idea: to preserve heritage—objects, memories, and ways of thinking—by giving them a coherent form. Embodied in the restored walawwa, this form creates links between what is shown and what is perceived, between objects from different places, between past and present, between here and elsewhere.

The aim is to bring these heterogeneous presences into dialogue, so that from their very coexistence a new meaning may arise. To preserve, to exhibit, to reveal meaning: such might be the credo of this institution.

When Dr. Jacques Soulié repatriated his Paris collection, patiently assembled over decades, or when Rohan de Silva travelled across Sri Lanka like an ethnographer of a bygone era, gathering artefacts, everyday objects, and traces of heritage, this spirit was already at work. Twenty years after the initial gesture—finding this place, restoring it, understanding it, and housing the collections within it—this idea has come fully into being: it has become the Suriyakantha Centre for Art and Culture we know today…

[Suriyakantha: an Art of Living in the Tropics, p. 13]

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Guilhem Beugnon

A retired teacher, Guilhem Beugnon served as director of the Resource Centre for Education for Sustainable Development at the Academic Directorate of Hérault (France). He currently works diachronically on the history of central Languedoc and its archaeological, architectural, and natural heritage, exploring the layers of time and inhabited landscapes with careful attention. He is notably the author of Gabian, aux sources du pétrole en France and Caux, sur les chemins de la Grande Guerre.

Thirty years after a long-term mission in Sri Lanka, he has returned to the tropics and rediscovered Suriyakantha, offering a sensitive perspective in which observation intertwines with memory. The result is a narrative that is both intimate and documentary, enriched by history and a deep attentiveness to place.

Janaka Samarakoon

Trained in art history at the École du Louvre (Paris), Janaka Samarakoon now works as a literary translator and art documentary filmmaker. In 2024 he published the first contemporary Sinhala novel translated into French.

In 1999 he met Dr Jacques Soulié at the Alliance Française in Kandy while he was a student, and that same year discovered the Suriyakantha Walauwa, whose library - particularly its shelves devoted to Western art - left a lasting mark on his intellectual journey. Since 2010 he has been associated, as director, with the legal foundation of the Suriyakantha Centre for Art and Culture. Today he divides his time between Nice and Sri Lanka, ensuring that the spirit of the place continues in faithful continuity with its founders.

You can purchase the book at Suriyakantha, Kandy, and soon from a selection of exclusive bookshops islandwide…

For more information, info@suriyakantha.org