Gnanams Hotel is a hotel in the city of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. The 32 room hotel is located in the heart of the city on Clock Tower Road, near Jaffna Hospital. Built in 1982, during the civil war the hotel was occupied by the Sri Lankan military for 24 years. The hotel was handed back to the owners in 2011.

Gnanams Hotel
Gnanams Hotel is located in Central Jaffna
Gnanams Hotel
Location in central Jaffna
General information
Address299-301 Clock Tower Road
Town or cityJaffna
CountrySri Lanka
Coordinates9°40′01.80″N 80°0′52.20″E / 9.6671667°N 80.0145000°E / 9.6671667; 80.0145000
Opened1982
Renovated1 May 2011
OwnerGnanams Hotel (Private) Limited
Other information
Number of rooms32
Website
gnanamshotel.webs.com

History

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The hotel was built in 1982 by Soosaipillai Gnanaprakasam.[1] The hotel had 25 rooms.[1] During the civil war the Sri Lankan military occupied the hotel, like they did to many buildings in the city.[1] The hotel was the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Army's 51-2 Brigade.[2] During the Norwegian mediated peace process the Sri Lankan military claimed it would hand the hotel back to the owners by March 2003 but this never happened.[3][4] Sangarapillai Kailasapillai bought the hotel in 2010.[1][5] In 2011, two years after the civil war ended, the military handed the hotel back to the owners.[1] The hotel re-opened for business on 1 May 2011.[6][7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Soruben, Sornakumar (2 October 2013). "Life Online: Jaffna Gnanams Hotel". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  2. ^ "Color-coded sails for Jaffna fishing boats". TamilNet. 4 September 1999.
  3. ^ "President, PM hold separate crisis talks". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 29 December 2002.
  4. ^ Jayasekara, Bandula (30 December 2002). "Major General Fonseka spells out de-escalation plan". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  5. ^ "Jaffna high security zones to continue - SLA". TamilNet. 11 December 2012.
  6. ^ Dias, Supun (4 May 2011). "Gnanam hotel in Jaffna opened". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 2014-03-16.
  7. ^ Ferdinando, Shamindra (4 May 2011). "May Day re-opening for Gnanam hotel - Army says no permanent base in Jaffna town". The Island (Sri Lanka).