COIMBATORE: The 500-year-old roof tiled entrance to Gomangalampudur, located nine km from Udumalai, was renovated by the residents and inaugurated by children of the village on Thursday. Known as ‘Bungalow Court’, the heritage structure was restored at a cost of Rs 7 lakh.
Residents gathered for the opening of the structure with a passage with baked tile roof flanked by ‘thinnai’ on each side.
While the Srivilliputhur temple gopuram was painted on one wall, the other one features the gopuram of Chidambaram Natarajar temple. Paver blocks were laid connecting it to the nearby temple. The renovation was taken up eight months ago.
According to R Selvaraj, a resident of Gomangalampudur, “We estimated the renovation to be around Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh initially. But the amount went up. We restored the heritage structure without losing its integrity so that future generations can stay close to their roots. We have set up two stone pillars were brought from Nagarcoil. We pooled Rs 3.5 lakh for the restoration and the remaining Rs 3.5 lakh was contributed by a Coimbatore-based industrialist, M Krishnakumar, who is a native of our village."
The structure is used as a ‘courtroom’ where the villagers gather to resolve family disputes and other matters of public interest. It is part of the celluloid history too as many Kollywood films, including Rajnikanth starrer Valli, were shot here.
On Thursday night, the villagers also observed ‘Kidaivettu’ as part of the Munimuthalamman temple festival.