Thalawila St Anne's Church

Thalawila St Anne's church is a beautiful catholic shrine situated close to the city of Kalpitiya. It can be reached easily via the Thalawila road, turning left from the Kalpitiya road.Its a beautiful shrine with a huge garden filled with trees and monuments.Stray animals can be seen in the shrine premises mostly donkeys.  The church is dedicated to st Anne, the Mother of the virgin Mary.

The history of the church runs back to 17th century where some people say that the church was built by an European trader and the crew of a Portuguese ship .The European trader came to be shipwrecked off the Kalpitiya coast and he had been aboard a Portuguese ship dedicated to St. Anne which was carrying a wooden statue of her and the ship was crashed on the rocks off the Kalpitiya coast and sunk. The survivors, including the trader, had miraculously survived and made to the shore.They built the Shrine in order to pay their gratitude towards the st Anne.

Another story is there which says the church was built by an poor Portuguese man who had a vision of st Mary while sleeping under a banyan tree and the man was instructed and coins were given by the holy ghost of the st Anne in order to build the church.

Traveling Tips
* The annual feast of the church falls on the month of August where a large number of pilgrims comes to worship the church.