Photograph of the Tivanka Image House at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka by Joseph Lawton, albumen print, 1870-71

This image is of a large ruined building. It has a tree growing on the roof and there are trees in the background.

This photograph was one of a set purchased by the museum from Lawton and Co. in 1882. See Photograph Register 81259-86096, Modern Volume, 13.
The register entry is dated to 24.4.82, and the cost is noted as £16.43.4

Historical significance: The Tivanka Image house is the largest brick-built shrine in Sri Lanka. Dating to the 12th century, it is famous for its wall paintings. It houses an 8-metre high standing Buddha in a thrice-bent posture (tivanka), from which it takes its name.

Just north of present-day Polonnaruwa, 140km north of Kandy, are the ruins of ancient Polonnaruwa, the medieval capital of Sri Lanka between the 11th and 13th centuries.

When the Chola kings of southern India invaded Sri Lanka in 993 AD, they conquered the city of Anuradhapura and moved the capital to Polonnaruwa. This was strategically located for defence against attacks from the unconquered Sinhala kingdom of Ruhuna, in the southeast. The Sinhalese ruler Vijayabahu I evicted the Chola in 1070, however, he and his successors kept the capital at Polonnaruwa, adding enormous temples, palaces, parks, gardens and huge tanks. During the 12th century, Parakramabahu I built the Royal Palace and many of the archaeological ruins found at the site originate from this Palace complex, including city walls, clusters of dagobas, temples and various other religious buildings. By the 13th century, attacks from southern India forced the Sinhalese kings to abandon the city, resulting in Kotte (near modern Colombo) and Kandy assuming positions as the centres of power.

The architectural structures became overgrown by dense vegetation and it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that they were uncovered and the sites excavated. The Polonnaruwa Visitor Information Centre and its museum, funded by the Dutch government, were opened in 1998/9 and offer information as to the changing state of the site from that period of excavation to the present.

This is one of a series of photographs taken by Lawton of the archaeological sites of Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya (1870-71). This series was commissioned by the Archaeological Committee (set up by the Governor of Ceylon in 1868) and became his signature work. Photographic surveys, conducted by Lawton and competitors such as the more prolific commercial firm WLH Skeen and Co., coincided with antiquarian scholarship that emerged as a result of the deforestation necessary to lay roadways, railways and plantations in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This process was propelled by an expansion of both the export and tourist economies. A colleague of Lawton's proposed that his involvement in the physical labour of clearing the archaeological sites that he photographed contributed to his death. After Lawton's death, many prints were produced by the firm for the tourist market, however, the original negatives were sold to a variety of different clients and are now considered to be lost.

Likely printed 1872 and 1882

Attribution note: This is one of a series of photographs taken by Lawton of the archaeological sites of Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya (1870-71), commissioned by the Archaeological Committee which the Governor of Ceylon set up in 1868. Two sets of these photographs were produced by Lawton: one which remained in Sri Lanka (now in such poor condition it is considered to be unusable) and a second which was sent to the Colonial Office in London (first kept in the Library of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and now in The National Archives). After Lawton's death in 1872, further images were produced by the firm under the supervision of his wife and sold largely to a tourist market. Reprints of this particular photograph appear in an album currently held in the Word and Image Department (PH.1202:85-1920) as well as in the Scott Collection (92/16/3) within the India Office Select Materials of the British Library.

The Tivanka Image house is the largest brick-built shrine in Sri Lanka. Dating to the 12th century, it is famous for its wall paintings. It houses an 8-metre high standing Buddha in a thrice-bent posture (tivanka), from which it takes its name.

Joseph Lawton (died 1872), a British commercial photographer, was active in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) between 1866 and1872. Though he was initially employed by the firm HC Bryde, by the mid 1860s he had established his own studio in Kandy. Lawton was commissioned by the Archaeological Committee to photograph the main archaeological sites in Sri Lanka. He created a unique series of aesthetically powerful images of Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya.

Official photographic surveys conducted by Lawton and others documented the architecture and facilitated antiquarian scholarship. However, as a commercial photographer, Lawton made sure that his photographs were not merely documentary. His images were taken to appeal to tourists and overseas buyers seeking picturesque views of ancient ruins overgrown with creepers and gnarled trees.

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