The early colonial settlers – the Portuguese and the Dutch – brought, or recreated their gorgeous terracotta half-round tile roofs when they built, down around the coasts
A vignette from a large mural by Donald Friend in the Sunroom at “Brief” depicting a Dutch-style low country dwelling with its characteristic half-round terracotta roof tiles.
but upcountry, in the Kandyan Kingdom, things were different. Upcountry roofs bear a common, and unmistakable use of pattern on flat stone, flint or terracotta tiles.
And while we’re on roofs, and patterns
and the simple patterned bronze sheeting on the dome of the Chatham Street mosque:
Finally – to rest our necks – simple patterned paving stones. The device of indenting leaf patterns into wet concrete was begun by Bevis Bawa and his friend, Donald Friend, simply through lack of choice – concrete was pretty well all that was available, so they used it.
This link for or other – gorgeous – patterned posts in response to this weeks Photo Challenge.
The Wanderlust Gene 
Excellent interpretation.
These patterns are special, esp. the patterned paving stones! I will see you two weeks later when I’m back from my vacation…
Leaf patterns in the concrete – love the idea!
Stunning with giant tropical leaves, Alessandro!
Love it! I did rooftops too for the challenge! Great minds think alike! These are all lovely!
You always pleasantly surprise me with your choices for a prompt. The rooftops are really interesting but isn’t it amazing how the leaves change the concrete completely?
I’m so glad to hear I can sometime surprise people – it’s terrible to be predictable, I think!
Yes – the leaves were an inspired way to dress up the concrete paths, especially back then, when Mrs. Bandaranieke’s government was all ‘socialist’ and ‘luxury’ imports were a no no!
Wonderful rooftops, all varied and unique.
Fantastic series! Terrific photos and info!
yes fantastic photos and gorgeous roofs! i so love the fine patterns used by artisans in the days of hand built houses 🙂
I often dream of being surrounded by ‘old’, hand crafted things – I almost managed it a couple of years ago, when its owner almost rented me his 300 year old house on a peppercorn rent.
that would have been extraordinary … but fraught with its own problems i imagine 🙂
Of course, especially here in the tropics, but I wasn’t allowing myself to think about that!
Those roofs are so cool!
The different roof patterns are fascinating but I love the leaf imprints – simple, economical and available they may be, but stunning.
Stunning entry for sure! Love the patterned stones. 🙂 *hugs*
Reblogged this on yasarnorman.
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This was a good challenge and I’ve enjoyed viewing everyone’s interpretation, like yours here. The leaf-patterned concrete is beautiful but I think the dome of the mosque steals the show. All told, you definitely met the challenge.
Love the roof patterns. I don’t think I have seen anything like that here, not even on the West Coast where the architecture is similar! The leaf imprint on concrete is gorgeous 🙂
i would be very surprised if the old Kandyan patterns didn’t originate, in some form from your neck of the woods because the Kandyan kings were very ‘Tamil’, despite their Rajasinhe and Ranasinhe type names. I need to do some proper research on it because I suspect roofs might originally have been made from wooden shingles, there being no coconut palms up there in the mountains.
The leaf imprints are super, aren’t they? They became all the rage and are still being used now but people who’re into simplicity. Funny, eh? The device was used because they just couldn’t get anything other than concrete, now (some) people are bombarded with all the chichi imports and are opting to use the simple leaf imprints instead. 🙂
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