Crowds throng President's House

President Maithripala Sirisena in conversation with students who visited President’s House

A throng of visitors continued to queue up outside President's House, which was opened for public viewing, for the first time in its history.

At the time this edition went to press, officials keeping count of the numbers viewingPresident's House, said over 60,000 people had already visited it.

"We expect the numbers to go up significantly, as we can already see queues extending past the Kingsbury Hotel nearby," an official said.

Saroj Senthilan, from Jaffna was in Colombo when it was announced that the palace was open for viewing. "We would probably not get this opportunity again," he said. "We thought we'd come here and take a few photographs, to show back home."President's House also known as President's Palace spans over 10 acres. It was built when Van Anglebeck was the last Dutch governor in Sri Lanka.

Some of the students wending their way to the upper floor

When former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power, he lived here and declared the entire surrounding area as a high security zone.Many people were eager to see the underground palace that the former President had built. Unfortunately, that portion of the house was off limits to visitors. Officials told the Sunday Observer that President Maithripala Sirisena was keen on keeping this section open but due to logistical reasons it had to be kept closed.

"The corridors are very small for two people to pass through, with such huge crowds we do not want to risk having it open for visitors," an official told us.

The House will remain open from 2pm to 7pm until June 14.