Galle Fort

Traveling to the south of the country, you can not miss one of the most interesting historical sites on the island - the town of Halle, the third largest city of Sri Lanka, 116 km. south of Colombo. Even 2000 years ago, Arab merchants stopped in Halle, putushestvuya between Arabia and China. Historians claim that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot here on the island. Still, the main merit in the creation of the city of Halle belongs to the Dutch. The first Europeans arrived on the island by accident. In 1505 a Portuguese fleet off course and found shelter in the bay. After hearing a rooster crowing in the morning (rooster in Portuguese - "halo"), the Portuguese gave the area its name. By 1587 the Portuguese settled down in Galle, Southern Province Kandyan state. In 1589, after one of the clashes with Kandyans, Portuguese built a simple to strengthening port security and called the fortress of Santa Cruz and Fortaleza. In 1640 the fortress was attacked by the Dutch, and 4 days later, after a bloody battle, the defense collapsed.

Realizing the importance of the strategic importance of the port in 1663, the Dutch built a fort (on the site of the destroyed), which now is in a fine condition and is one of the most preserved colonial forts in Asia. On the territory of the fort the whole city was built: the temples, residential and administrative buildings, a lighthouse, a prison, planned streets, many of which still bear the names of the Dutch. The main gate on the north side of the fortress built by the British in 1873. This part of the wall is better strengthened from a military point of view, as facing the island. The original wall was built by the Portuguese and is surrounded by a moat. Then increased by the Dutch, who in 1667 divided it into individual bastions - Star, Moon and Sun.

Going clockwise you will come to the old gate, over which the emblem of the Dutch East India Company, The VOC letters with lions and a rooster and the date 1669. The National Maritime Museum is located in the building. To the left of the gate bastion - Black Fort, built by the Portuguese and is the oldest bastion. The eastern part of the wall ends at Bastion Point Utrech, the top of which, in 1938, the 18 meter high lighthouse was built. From bastion Rocky Cape signals fed ships and musket shots from Pigeon Island, located near the cliff, warning ships of their danger lurking. On the bastion Triton was an old lighthouse and windmill, through which seawater is fed to the territory of the city, where it poured from the street dust. In total, the fort of 12 bastions.

Dutch Period Museum is located in a renovated Dutch house privately. New Oriental Hotel - the former home of the officers, built in 1684, and since 1863 is registered as a hotel, one of the first hotels in South Asia. Maps and signs on the hotel walls tell the history of the city. Behind the hotel Dutch "Great Temple", built in 1640. temple floors, tombstones with strictly Dutch cemetery. Opposite the church bell tower in 1701 and the old house of the Dutch Government. Above the doorway is visible to the date 1683 and the figure of a rooster. Old Dutch ovens are inside the house, and the inhabitants of the house, workers' Vok & Sons "company say that it haunted...

Walking through the fort, surrounded by a wall, creates a calm and peaceful atmosphere that transports a few centuries ago, in the era of Dutch colonization...