“Identity Crisis" of Post-Colonial Church Architecture in Sri Lanka

Abstract

With the Colonization of Asia, the Christian Church introduced a new form of religious architecture which was much in contrast to the prevailing religious architecture of the era. But during the period of post-independence, ‘the postcolonial church architecture’ is seen as becoming resistant to the colonial identity. Within Asia, Sri Lanka is a country which has been colonized by three European powers, hence a good example for the study of the de-colonization process of religious architecture. The objective of this paper is to examine the typologies that were re-invented as alternative means of ‘indigenous Christian identity’ and also to analyze such architectural examples which illustrate the ‘native form of church’ during the decolonizing process of religious architecture in Sri Lanka.