Jaffna யாழ்ப்பாணம் Traces of tragedy in Jaffna City

For many years Jaffna was off-limits to foreign visitors because of the war. Now, slowly regaining its former glory as a bastion of Hindu art and creative culture, Jaffna is exciting, intriguing and humble. Geographically closer to India than Colombo, this off-the-beaten-path destination is home to one of the greatest Dutch forts in Asia and offers an intimate insight into Tamil culture, Sri Lanka’s distant colonial past and more recent tumultuous history. This trail visits some sites that serve as memories of conflict because they were damaged, erased from the map, beacons of battle or simply hold a special place in people's hearts.