St. Anthony's College, Kandy

St. Anthony's College was founded in Kandy on 12 March 1854, when Monsignor Joseph Maria Bravi formally acknowledged two schools opened that January by the Franciscan missionary Fr Felice Zoppi, who had arrived in Kandy the previous November. The initial enrolment was 62 boys and 28 girls, on the site where St. Anthony's Cathedral now stands.

The school moved to its present Katugastota grounds after Bishop Bede Beeckmeyer bought the Dunuwille Walauwa estate there in 1927; junior boarders were transferred on 16 January 1928. The main building block was completed in 1935, and the Centenary Hall was opened in 1957 by Governor-General Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke to mark the college's hundredth year. The campus also holds an Administration Building, a college chapel, Rainbow Cottages and the Bishop Leo Nanayakkara Sports Complex.

In 1941 the college split off a branch school, St. Sylvester's College. The government abolished tuition fees in 1961 and took over the school's management in 1977, though it remains linked to the Diocese of Kandy. Cricket has been played here since 1903 and rugby since 1957. Among its alumni are William Gopallawa, the last Governor-General of Ceylon and first President of Sri Lanka, and the cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan.