To mark the 75th Anniversary of Independent Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka National Archives together with the Department of National Museums organised an exhibition of archives that had never been exhibited to the public before and a collection of museum objects from 4 February 2023 to 19 February 2023. Much of the content of that exhibition, opened by President Ranil Wickramasinghe, is made available here. 

Treading the path to freedom, you will experience an online collection of special archives. We invite you to visually experience evidence of the national freedom struggle by walking with us along the path that freedom fighters, professionals, moderators, and reformers took in response to colonial rule.

Together with the resistance that began in the first half of the nineteenth century against the power of the empire on which the sun never sets, the repression of revolts and the responses of the colonial power are extremely important in studying the path of Sri Lankan independence.

Through this exhibition, you are offered a chance to view primary sources such as agreements, letters, The Gazette, commission reports, newspapers, and photographs, providing a broad understanding of a historical process that spans more than 150 years until 1972, when Sri Lanka was completely freed from British rule.