Historical Cannon at Galle Face Green park, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1979
Galle Face Green is a 5-hectare (12-acre) oceanfront urban park in the center of Colombo, Sri Lanka's business and financial capital. The park stretches 500 meters (1,600 feet) along the coast and was originally established in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward. While the original Galle Face Green was larger, it was initially used for horse racing and a golf course, as well as cricket, polo, football, tennis, and rugby.
Each year, the Cannonball Run is held at Galle Face Green to commemorate an incident from 1840 when a British artillery cannon misfired. The 30-pound cannonball struck a masonry bridge and traveled nearly a mile down the Green, hitting the roof of the Galle Face Boarding House (now the Galle Face Hotel). The cannonball caused damage to the building before resting under a chair in a drawing room. The cannonball is now displayed at the hotel’s museum. The event is celebrated annually, with runners, often from the diplomatic community, starting at the Fort end of the Green and finishing at the cannonball on a pedestal in the hotel.
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