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Mount Lavinia - the Governor's Palace, a lavishly illustrated coffee table edition, a definitive of Mount Lavinia Hotel's 200 year history and heritage is now available for sale at the Barefoot Gallery, Odel and the Mount Lavinia Hotel Front Office Cashier at Rs. 8050/-.
The year was 1806
Old Ceylon was under the rule of the British crown. Sir Thomas Maitland was leaving the shores of a country he had called home for over six years. He was also leaving behind the woman he loved. Social convention and duty to his King was taking him away from her.
But what he did not know, was that he was leaving behind a legacy to their love that would be immortalized.
The Mount Lavinia Hotel is built up around the original residence of Sir Thomas Maitland who was the Governor General of Ceylon from 1805-1811. It was at a welcoming party held in his honour on his arrival in the island that he set his eyes upon Lovina whose father was the Headman of the troupe.
Sir Thomas was smitten by her smile and charms and soon found himself obsessed by her and taking any measures possible to see more of her.
And thus was built, what is now, the Mount Lavinia Hotel. As it was highly unconventional for an unmarried British Officer to be seen associating with a local dancing girl Sir Thomas and his lover met in secret. She was smuggled into his mansion through a secret tunnel that led from her fathers well into a wine cellar in the house.
Thomas Maitland ultimately left the country (in 1811) for Malta where he lived and died as a bachelor. The tunnel was eventually sealed up in 1920 and the Gypsy village that surrounded the Governor’s mansion developed into a modern bustling city that took it name from the beautiful Lovina. But the Governor’s home which he named Mount Lavinia House and his monument to his only love has been preserved within the walls and high ceilings of the Mount Lavinia Hotel, where its staff and management alike take pride and glory in its rich history.
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