© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Tsunami Museum, Telwatta, SRI LANKA

It has been over 7 years since the Tsunami devastated the coast of Sri Lanka. Over 50,000 people were killed and thousands more injured and displaced. Though new disasters and tragedies have occurred in the world, people have moved one to other issues, and the wounds are being healed as businesses, roads and lives are being rebuilt, signs of the destruction that had taken the nation by surprise are still there … none more prominently showcase than the Tsunami Museum in Telwatta, Sri Lanka.

Started by Jacky – an independent volunteer from Holland – she was drawn to Telwatta during her initial stint of voluntary work post the 26th December 2006 tsunami and had returned to Sri Lanka on many occasions between then and 2010. A visual artist and an art teacher, she had taken lots of photographs and through her visual journey had discovered the importance of photos for the Sri Lankans and the impact the tsunami had on the lost of these visual memories as well. Consequently, Jacky decided to start the Tsunami Museum project with  the following aim:

• To visualize the stories of the local people who where affected by the Tsunami. A place where big and small stories can come together and can be shared. Not only the stories of the local people, but also about the people who came to help.
• To create a place where people can see and remember what has happened, because their experiences and the disaster that followed has had a big impact on the lives of so many people and will stay with them all their lives. Besides this fact, the Tsunami story has become a major subject of Sri Lankan history and is important to show to the upcoming generations.
• To try and collect international photo material and bring it back to Sri Lanka and the affected villages, like Telwatta and Parelyia.
• The Tsunami brought people from all over the world to Sri Lanka. Many villages had not met people from other cultures before. I hope the museum will be a place where cultures can come together in the future as well.

 - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

Details of the Tsunami Photo Museum

Opening Hours:
The Museum is open every day from 9.00 AM untill 18.00 PM

The museum is free of charge because we want to give everybody the oppurtunity to see the exhibition but a donation, to maintain the museum, is most welcome.

Address:
Tsunami Photo Museum, Templeroad, Telwatta, Sri Lanka

Museum website:
http://tsunami-photo-museum-srilanka.blogspot.com/

 - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

In Jacky’s own words:

At the 26 of December 2004 I was sitting in Holland behind the television watching the Tsunami videos and the aftermath. I had just got back from a trip to Thailand and I considered myself lucky being in Holland at that time, if I had made my trip 3 weeks later I could easily have been in the Tsunami myself.

I watched the news all the time and decided I wanted to help, not just donate money but go over there and help the people who had suffered so much. I wanted to help the people in whatever way I could. I tried to get in contact with NGO’s or people working on the site but this was very difficult. Nobody wanted to take the responsibility for helping volunteers. Finally after 3 weeks I got in contact with Jessica (also from Holland) who was helping the people in Sri Lanka.

On the 26th of January 2005 I was on the plane to Sri Lanka. I got some little donations from friends and I had asked some schools in my village to donate some presents for children there. I came to Hikkaduwa where Jessica was working together with more volunteers from all over the world. At that time most foreign people in this area where paid and unpaid aid workers.

We started with clearing rubble by hand in the village Wellawatta. After that I went to Hambantota for a week to do activities for children with another volunteer group. Between the rubble we would be colouring picture books, play cricket and other games at schools and in camps and made paper flowers and music in the childrensward of the hospital.

When I came back to Hikka Jessica and Co had already started to work in Telwatta. Making temporary wooden huts for about 15 families that were still living in the Temple at that time. Every day I passed Telwatta junction and this was still a big mess. People where living in tents between the rubble. Nothing had been cleared yet. After some time I decided to leave the other volunteers with the building of the huts and I started to see if I could help clean the rubble at the junction site. I tried to find volunteers to help and money to buy the needed cleaning tools, cause I didn’t have any budget myself. After one day of work with 8 people we where only able to clear one house foundation and I thought: “My god this is one hell of a job I started!!!!”

Any way although it seemed a long and heavy job to do we continued and after about 3-4 weeks we where able to clear the site from rubble. Main problem was to find the money to pay for the bulldozers and lorries that where needed to take away the rubble. Nobody had really a budget for this. I was very thankful that Jessica’s foundation wanted to donate the money for this and also to pay for the people who helped to clean. In the mean time I was able to get the Danish Peoples Aid to build shelters on the site and also I was able to get some funding for the clearing from them.

This was how it all started in Telwatta for me. After that I have been doing all sorts of projects in the area, but I kept coming back to Telwatta, because for some strange reason I felt at home there. And the people there have made me feel welcome and even when they didn’t have anything themselves they would give me a smile and a cup of tea. Also I admired their strong sense of community spirit and their strength to rebuild their lives after loosing nearly everything.

I have been up and down to Sri Lanka since the Tsunami for the last four years. All these times I had taken lots of photographs. I also found out how important photo’s are for the Sri Lankans themselves. Not only because they like them and put the photo frames on a central place in their house. Very much because, through the Tsunami, the people lost 98% of their photographs and didn’t have any camera’s. It where the aid workers, volunteers and journalists that had the camera’s. They visited the sites and took pictures, but most of these photos the village people didn’t see themselves.

From this background and my own background as a visual artist and an art teacher I decided to start the museum project. A project that is based with different aims:

- To visualize the stories of the local people who where affected by the Tsunami. A place where big and small stories can come together and can be shared. Not only the stories of the local people, but also about the people who came to help.

- To create a place where people can see and remember what has happened, because their experiences and the disaster that followed has had a big impact on the lives of so many people and will stay with them all their lives. Besides this fact, the Tsunami story has become a major subject of Sri Lankan history and is important to show to the upcoming generations.

- To try and collect international photo material and bring it back to Sri Lanka and the affected villages, like Telwatta and Parelyia.

- The Tsunami brought people from all over the world to Sri Lanka. Many villages had not met people from other cultures before. I hope the museum will be a place where cultures can come together in the future as well.

It is impossible to tell the whole Tsunami story, as there are too many. But by telling some of them I think a lot of people will get a general idea what has happened. The museum is not only about the Tsunami but also about the first years after, as so much changed every day during this chaotic period. I have chosen for a museum with a personal touch instead of a museum that shows all the facts. For me the personal stories are more important than the facts. Only the necessary facts to tell the story will be presented in the museum.

I had not been in Sri Lanka before the Tsunami. When I came here I saw the mess of a culture that has been whirled up side down. I had no idea how it had been before and what was normal and not. I learned about Sri Lanka life and culture the other way round. I learned about every day Sri Lankan life from rubble. Now slowly I get to see and understand what it had been like before the Tsunami. I hope I will be able to do more projects in Sri Lanka in the future. For now I would like to invite you to explore the museum and read the Tsunami photo stories.

© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Stilt Fishermen, Weligama, SRI LANKA

Weligama (lit. “sandy village”), situated 144km from Colombo, is famed for images of stilt fisherman (fishermen sitting atop their poles, which are fixed to the ocean floor for hours) and an offshore islet known as Taprobane, where the dream house of the French Count de Mauny was built. Comprising of around 175,000 inhabitants, poverty in Weligama is highly noticeable with  80% of it’ss residents unemployed. Main income sources are agriculture (coconuts), fishing and tourism.

Weligama made its way into the international press in December 2004 when the Tsunami swept this poverty stricken coastal town in the South of Sri Lanka destroying roughly 15% of the area.

Jaya was hardly 7 years old when the Tsunami hit his beach side home where he had been playing on the sandy beaches while his father had been out at sea. When the waves receded, Jaya recounts “hearing” his father’s command to run for the nearest and highest coconut tree, frantically climbing up the trunk and holding on tight while crying out for his mother and siblings. His father was swept by the giant wave into the bowels of the sea only to be thrown back inland where miraculously he grabbed on to a coconut tree some 100 metres away from Jaya.

Today, they have rebuilt their home in a track of land fenced by a perimeter fence containing a modest coconut plantation; land that they had inherited from all their extended family members that had perished. Jaya abandoned his hopes for a government job a few years back due to economic constraints and continues the family tradition of fishermen while his father mans the coconut plantation. He however, does stilt fishing on the side, having abandoned this traditional form of fishing for the more lucrative modern fishing technologies and motor boats.

.

.

© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – the circular house of relic (Vatadage), Polonnaruwa, SRI LANKA

Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka’s splendid medieval capital was established as the first city of the land in the 11th Century, A.D. It replaced Anuradhapura that was plundered, made desolate, and laid hopelessly bare to the invading armies from South India.

Polonnaruwa reached a dazzling, but pitifully brief zenith, in the 12th century and though like Anuradhapura, where it was ravaged by invasions in the preceding centuries, there is much evidence and remains of the old grandeur and glory. The ruins of Polonnaruwa sits on the east shore of a large artificial lake, the Topa Wewa Lake or Parakrama Samudra (the Sea of Parakrama); created by King Parakramabahu I (1153-86) who reign during Polonnaruwa’s golden age.

Within the city’s rectangular walls stands palace buildings, a bath area and clusters of dozens of dagobas, temples, various other religious buildings and a monk sanctuary that stretches for miles. The centerpiece – the Dalada Maluwa (the hall of the Tooth Relic) contains 12 magnificent buildings in a sacred precinct. The most famous of the ruins, if not the most most famous vatadage (circular house of relic) across Sri Lanka is the Vatadage in Polonnaruwa, with four Buddha images facing the cardinal directions circling around the centerpiece stupa. Evidence of the Buddhas being created out of white marble and one covered with gold leaf is still mildly visible.

.

.

© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Stupa, Polonnaruwa, SRI LANKA

The dagobas or stupas of Sri Lanka are the largest brick structures known to the ancient world, rendering them significant not only to Buddhism but also a significant architectural and engineering development for the island. The construction of stupas were considered acts of great merit for men as the purpose of stupas were mainly to enshrine relics of the Buddha.

.

Despite its shapes evolving from a ‘paddy heap’ to the ‘pot and bell’ and later on an ‘onion’, design specifications for the entrances are consistent in that they are laid out in a manner that ensures that their centre lines point to the relic chambers. As time progress, an ornamented vahalkadas was added to the design of stupas around the 2nd Century AD. The four vahalkadas face the cardinal points, ornamented with figures of animals and flowers. The pillars on the either side of the vahalkadas features figures of lions, elephants, horses or bulls; depending on the direction of the structure.

.

Later stupas were covered with a coating of lime plaster; combination applied depended on availability of materials and the requirements of designs. Typically materials includes lime, clay, sand, pebbles, egg whites, plant resin, glues and even the saliva of white ants!

.

.

.

Although Dambulla is thought to have been inhabited from as early as the 7th to 3rd Century BC, with Ibbankatuwa prehistoric burial site situated 3 kilometers from the cave temples, Dambulla is most famously known for providing refuge to King Valagamba (also known as Vattagamini Abhaya) for 14 years during his exile from the Anuradapura kingdom. Buddhist monks meditating in the caves of Dambulla at that time provided protection to the king from his enemies. As a results, when King Valagamba returned to the throne at Anuradapura kingdom in the 1st Century BC, he built the magnificent rock temple at Dambulla as a gratitude to the monks in Dambulla.

.

The Dambulla Cave Temple is the largest and best preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka where major attractions today spreads over five caves containing 153 Buddha statues, 3 statues of Sri Lankan kings and 4 statues of god and goddess (including two statues of the Hindu gods, Vishnu and Ganesh. In addition to statues, the Dambulla Cave Temple has murals covering an area of  2,100 m² depicting Lord Buddha and his life, which includes Buddha’s temptation by the demon Mara and Buddha’s first sermon. The statues and paintings in the Dambulla caves dates back to the 1st Century BC, but have been repaired and repainted in the 11th, 12th and 18th Century AD.

.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

.

Time line of the Caves

7th to 3rd century BC – early inhabitants

1st century BC – Painting and statues

5th century AD – the stupa was built

12th century AD – addition of the statues of Hindu gods

20th century AD – UNESCO restoration and lighting

.

.

.

.

Terms

The whirling dervish is known as a Semazen. Dervish itself means doorway to god or enlightenment. Sufism is derived from the word for a rough, woolen cloak, its material designed to diminish the superficial pleasures of worldly existence. Mevlevis are the order of Sufis that perform the whirling dervish dance, refered to as the Sema. The leader of the group is called the Sheikh; he often stands in the middle of the room, representing the sun, while the other members dance around him in imitation of the cycles of the planets. The repetition of god’s name is the Zikr.

.

Dervish Clothes

Whirling dervishes sport a conical hat and a white shirt and skirt. The skirt is made of billowing material that flows out and around the dancer as they spin. The head gear symbolizes the need to seal off one’s ego in order to connect to God and the universe. The skirt represents a shroud but also the sky, which is revealed as the dancer removes their black cloak and begins the journey towards spiritual enlightenment.

.

A former Orthodox Patriarchal basilica between 360 to 1453, and later a mosque from 1453 t0 1931, the Hagia Sophia has been transformed to a museum since 1935.

Constructed under the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, the Hagia Sophia whose name originates from the Greek Ἁγία Σοφία, which means “Holy Wisdom” is often mistakenly referred to as Sancta Sophia (Saint Sophia). Designed by Greek physicist Isidore of Miletus and mathematician Anthemius of Tralles, Hagia Sophia is  famous for its massive dome and was considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture; notwithstanding that it was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years before the completion of Seville Cathedral in 1520.  The church also contains a large collection of holy relics as it was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for close to a century.

However, with its conversion into Aya Sofya Mosque by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II, the bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed and many of the mosaics were plastered over. This was in part due to the excessive damage Hagia Sophia sustained as a result of it being the focal point of the Sultan’s troops of unbridled pillage shortly after the city was sieged and defenses collapsed. Islamic features such as the mihrab, located in the apse where the altar used to stand, pointing towards Mecca were constructed in addition the the minbar and four minarets. Additions continued by subsequent Sultans over the centuries with the most famous restoration being ordered by Sultan Abdülmecid. Eliciting a total of 800 workers between 1847 and 1849, under the supervision of architect brothers Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati, the domes and vaults of the Aya Sofya was consolidated, it’s columns straightened and decorations of both the interior and exterior revised; mosaics in the upper gallery were cleaned, chandeliers were replaced by new pendant chandeliers and new gigantic circular-framed disks  with inscriptions of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, the first four caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, and the two grandchildren of Mohammed - Hassan and Hussain - by calligrapher Kazasker İzzed Effendi were installed.

With its final transformation to a Museum in 1935, the carpets were removed, revealing marble floor decorations such as the Omphalion that had gone unseen for centuries. Likewise, for the mosaics that had been covered by white plaster. However, the Hagia Sophia is far from being save with its deteriorating structure, some of which is visible; water leaks over the fragile frescoes and mosaics due to its visibly cracked copper roof. What’s not visible to a visitor admiring its beauty is the rising ground water that has raised the level of humidity within the monument, creating an unstable environment for its stone and paint. Conservation work by the World Monuments Fund (with the help of American Express in securing grants) took place between 1997 and 2002 on its roof, followed by efforts by the Turkish Ministry of Culture who worked on the preservation of the dome’s interior till 2006. More funds and work is however still needed on other areas of Hagia Sophia.

© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony, Mevlevi Order, Istanbul, TURKEY

Known more commonly as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form of remembrance to God (dhikr) in initiating the Sufi path (dervish), the Mevlevi Order  (Persian: مولويه - Molavīyeh) is a Sufi order founded in Konya, Turkey by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, theologian and Islamic jurist.

Following his death, the Mawlawi order was founded in 1273 by his successor, Hüsamettin Çelebi. The Mawlawi believe in performing their dhikr in the form of a “dance” and musical ceremony known as the Sema, which involves the whirling, from which the order acquired its nickname. The Sema represents a mystical journey of man’s spiritual ascent through mind and love towards “Perfection”. Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the “Perfect”. He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, able to love and to be of service to the whole of creation.

Rumi has said in reference to Sema:

For them it is the Sema of this world and the other.
Even more for the circle of dancers within the Sema
Who turn and have, in their midst, their own Ka’aba.

The origin of Sema is credited to Rumi where it narrates the story of Rumi walking through the town marketplace one day, when he heard the rhythmic hammering of the goldbeaters. It is believed that Rumi heard the dhikr, “la elaha ella’llah” in Arabic “لا اله الا الله”, or in English, “There is none worthy of worship but Allah(God)“, spoken by the apprentices beating the gold, and was so filled with happiness that he stretched out both of his arms and started spinning in a circle. With that, the practice of Sema and the dervishes of the Mevlevi Order were born.

In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed the “The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony” of Turkey as amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

 - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

The Sema is practised in the samahane (ritual hall) according to a precisely prescribed symbolic ritual with the dervishes whirling in a circle around their sheikh, who is the only one whirling around his axis. The Sema is performed by spinning on the right foot. The dervishes wear a white gown (symbol of death), a wide black cloak (hırka) (symbol of the grave) and a tall brown hat (kûlah or sikke), symbol of the tombstone.

Sema ceremonies are broken up into four parts which all have their own important meanings.

Naat and Taksim - Naat is the beginning of the ceremony where a solo singer offers praise for the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The first part is finished with taksim(improvisation in free rhythm) of the ney reed flute which symbolizes our separation from God.

Devr-i Veled - During the following Devr-i Veled, the dervishes bow to each other and make a stately procession in single file around the hall. The bow is said to represent the acknowledgement of the Divine breath which has been breathed into all of us. After all the dervishes have done this they kneel and remove their black cloaks.

The Four Salams - The Four Salams are the central part of Sama. The samazens or whirling dervishes are representative of the moon and they spin on the outside (sufi whirling) of the Sheikh who is representative of the sun. They, as previously mentioned, spin on their right foot and additionally, they have their right palm facing upwards towards Heaven and their left hand pointing at the ground. The four salams themselves are representative of the spiritual journey that every believer goes through. The first one is representative of recognition of God, the second one is recognition of the existence in his unity, the third one represents the ecstacy one experiences with total surrender and the fourth one, where the Sheikh joins in the dance, is symbolic of peace of the heart due to Divine unity. After the four salams, this part of the ceremony is concluded with another solo Taksim.

Concluding Prayer - The fourth part of the ceremony is a recitation from the Holy Qu’ran and a prayer by the Sheikh and then the Sema is complete.

 

© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Sultanahmet Camii, Istanbul, TURKEY

Built between 1609 to 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultanahmet Camii) design is a culmination of two centuries of both Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church development. This is evident in traces of the Byzantine elements visible in its neighbouring Hagia Sophia, applied to the traditional Islamic architecture featuring 6 minarets and a total of 9 domes; one being the main dome.

It earned its popularly known name – Blue Mosque – from the 20,000 plus handmade Iznik (the ancient Nicaea area) ceramic tiles in more than fifty different tulip designs that lines the interior of the mosque at its lower levels. While the lower levels had tiles in the traditional designs, the gallery level is adorned with flamboyant representation of flowers, fruit and cypresses. Although the tiles were purportedly made under the supervision of Iznik master potter Kasap Haci and Baris Efendi of Avanos (now known as Cappadocia), the quality of the tiles differed over time. This was primarily attributed to the fact that the price to be paid for each tile during the construction was fixed by the sultan’s decree without consideration of general increases of the tile prices over time. To meet the Sultan’s decree, the artisan delivered lower quality tiles where colours have faded and changed (i.e. red turning into brown and green into blue, mottled whites) and the glazes have dulled.

Other elements that contributes towards the blue hue of the mosque includes the blue painted walls that dominates the upper level interior and the installation of more than 200 stained glass windows, a gift of the Signoria of Venice to the Sultan. However, most of these windows have now been replaced with poor craftsmanship and of little artistic merit.

Other intriguing feature of the interior of the Blue Mosque that’s worth a mention is the existence of ostrich eggs that are placed in the bubbles of the chandeliers and lamps to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque by repelling spiders, in addition to recycled tiles from the Topkapi Place for the back of the balconies!

Taking over two centuries to complete (784 – 987CE), the Mezquita de Cordoba has accommodated to many spiritual and religious purposes; originating first as a pagan temple, then to be converted to a Visigothic Christian Church, followed by its transition to a mosque by the Umayyad Caliphate with the Islamic conquest of the Visigothic kingdom, only to be transformed to a Roman Catholic church after the Spanish reconquering the area.

As a result, the Mezquita de Cordoba is known by the local inhabitants of Cordoba, Spain as the Mezquita-Catedral which translates to Mosque-Cathedral in English. Likewise, it incorporates an eclectic mix of Moorish and Renaissance architecture with minarets being adapted into cathedral bell towers and gilded prayer niches with Quranic inscriptions sitting alongside Renaissance styled cathedral nave.

Most notable for the giant arches – with 856 columns of jasper, onyx, marble and granite – taken from pieces of previously occupied Roman temples and the Merida amphitheater, the red and white voussoirs of the arches of Mezquita de Cordoba are purported to be a result of inspiration from the Dome of the Rock – a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem that was completed in 691CE. Expanded and improved extensively by the Umayyad Caliphate, the four stages – which is evident walking through the Mezquita de Cordoba – have resulted in richly gilded prayer niches, a centrally located honeycombed dome with blue tiles finished with stars, a breathtaking mihrab with geometric and flowering designs of floral, stained glass windows, screens of finely carved wood, minarets, colorful mosaics, a courtyard and a staircase and a bridge linking the prayer hall with the Caliph’s quarters.

Alterations to the works of the 4 Caliphs by the Roman Catholic invaders under King Ferdinand III of Castile saw the constructions of Chapels within the mosque, the erection of a cathedral nave right in the middle of Mezquita de Cordoba’s expansive structure and bells attached to minarets to serve as cathedral bell towers.

It is said that the Mezquita de Cordoba’s conversion to a Catholic church – the Catedral de Córdoba – was what saved it from being destroyed and continued to be preserved during the Spanish Inquisition.

The desire of men to convert this coveted structure remains to date with Spanish Muslims continued lobbying with the Roman Catholic church to allow them to pray in the cathedral; of which were rejected on multiple occasions by the Spanish Catholic authorities and the Vatican since the early 2000s. This quest turned into a violent incident in 2010.

.

.

Source: Lonely Planet, Wikipedia and Sacred Destinations

.

.