St. Thomas’ Church Ginthupitiya celebrates 210 years

Saturday, 19 July 2025 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

St. Thomas' Church Ginthupitiya

Interior of the church

By Randima Attygalle

Claimed to be the first church here at home, specifically built for Anglican worship in 1815, St. Thomas’ Church Ginthupitiya celebrates its 210 eventful years tomorrow, with a line-up of special events. The first Divine Service at the Church was held on 16 July, 1815.

Reflecting the Gothic style of architecture and nestled amidst flowers and foliage in the hustling Ginthupitiya, off Kotahena, St. Thomas Church stands on a little hillock built on grounds where a Roman Catholic church once stood during the Portuguese times. Rev. Fr. D.K. Balakrishnan is the present Vicar of the St. Thomas’ Church.

Governor Sir Robert Brownrigg is credited for the erection of the present church (his name is inscribed on the west front wall of the church), the foundation of which was laid in 1815- interestingly in the same year when the Kandyan Convention was signed, marking the ceding of the kingdom’s territory to the British crown.

“The honour of being the first church in Sri Lanka for Anglican worship belongs to St. Thomas Ginthupitiya”, documents Historian Frederick Medis who goes onto explain that although St. John the Baptist Church in Chundikuli Jaffna and St. Peter’s Church, Fort were erected before St. Thomas’ Church in Ginthupitiya, neither of them were specifically built for Anglican worship.

Legend has it that St. Thomas the Apostle came to India and was the founder of the Syrian Christian Church there. It is also believed that enroute, he made a stop at the Colombo port and preached on a hillock on which St. Thomas’ Church in Ginthupitiya stands today When the Portuguese first arrived in the island bringing with them the Catholicism, Ginthupitiya was called San Thome Pitiya, translating to the Plain of St. Thomas. The exact origin of the name ‘Ginthupitya’ is mired in controversy.

In the times of the Dutch, the original Portuguese church at Ginthupitiya fell into ruins but the churchyard continued to be used for three small cemeteries – one for slaves, one for the natives and one for the heathen, testify historical sources including Frederick Medis. It was probably at this times that the name ‘San Thome Pitiya’ or ‘Santhumpitiya’ was changed to Ginthupitiya or the Plain of the Heathen, derived from ‘gentu’, the Portuguese word for heathen or non-believer, says the historian. Some of these graves are still found in the compound, their gravestones inscribed in Dutch.

The repertoire of 210th anniversary celebrations, which commenced on 18 July, will conclude tomorrow with a special Holy Communion Service at 10.30 a.m., followed by the cutting of the anniversary cake and a fellowship lunch.

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