Galle Dutch Fort

Galle Dutch Fort

 Galle Dutch Fort

The city of Galle in Sri Lanka plays a major role in Sri Lankan Tourism. The Dutch fort of Galle is arguably most interested among both Local and Foreign travelers. It was declared as a UNESCO world heritage site in Sri Lanka. Galle Dutch fort has a long history. This glorious fort was firstly built by Portuguese in 1588. Remarkably it had been marked in the Ptolemy's world map illustrated around 125-150 A.D. At that time this fort situated in Galle bay, was a quite busy port. The fort was retained by Dutch in the 17th century. It was visited by Chinese, Greeks, Arabs and Indians for business and commercial trading purposes. Dutch fort of Galle is also called as ‘Ramparts of Galle’. The name Galle is generated from the Dutch word ‘Gallus’ by means of chicken. Another version is that there was a big stable made for cattle. In Sinhalese, it is ‘Gaala’ and the name ‘Galle’ derived from ‘Gaala’.

The Fort is a profess to South Asian customs and European architecture around the 19th century. The Portuguese invader ‘Lorezo de Almeida’ was able to build up a tight friendship, with the Sri Lankan King ’Dharmaparakramabahu’(King of Kotte Kingdom). As a result of that, he got the permission to build a camp to affirm the safety of the coastal areas of Sri Lanka. But they were ordered to return the fort to King ‘Seetawakla Rajasingha’. In 1940 King Rajasingha 2 captured the Galle Fort from Portuguese with the help of Dutch. Dutch was not seconded to the Portuguese on behalf of the disaster brought to Ceylon. Gradually Dutch began to engage with Ceylon politics. However, with the arrival of Britains, the fort was enslaved again.
There are 2 main entrances to the fort. The entrance to the Galle cricket ground is much crowded with travelers. You can find the motto under the logo of British monarch at the top of the main gate. Other than that the Dutch logo ‘VOC’ which represents Dutch East India Company is placed on the inner side of the gate. Other clusters of sites in the Galle city are Galle Fort temple, Galle Fort mosque, Galle fort light house, Maritime museum, Fort library and the Anglican church. The inside walls of the fort are adorned with Dutch architecture. Thus Kleipenberg bastion, Emaloon bastion, and Aurora bastion have uplifted the glory of the fort. The bread fruit tree planted in the fort is believed to be the oldest bread fruit tree of Sri Lanka. Bread fruit is also brought to Sri Lanka by Dutch.