Gems in Sri Lanka Ratnapura

Ratnapura is known as the City of Gems in Sri Lanka. It is located at a distance of 101 Km from the city of Colombo. It is an important gem mining center of Sri Lanka. The name Ratnapura has derived from the Sinhalese words Ratna meaning gems and Pura which means city.
Sri Lanka is known for producing best quality blue sapphires of which the Blue Bell gem is kept in the New York Museum of Natural History. Sri Lanka has been popular as land of gems from ancient times. It is believed that King Solomon took a ruby for his Queen Sheba from Ceylon. In the accounts of Marco Polo, mention of Sri Lanka’s rubies is also found.
Sri Lanka is best known for producing gems like ruby, sapphire, tourmaline, topaz, aquamarine, cat’s eye, garnet, zircon, alexandrite etc. Gem trade contributes to the economy of Sri Lanka to a great extent. Gem pits are found in Ratnapura and people associated with this industry mostly reside in Ratnapura. Gem traders mostly from Thailand come to Ratnapura for business. Local traders also supply large amount of gems to the large scale gem traders who sell them in the international market.

09:07 AM Tuesday September 14th, 2010

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