Jaffna Fort
Situated on the south side of the Jaffna peninsula at the
water’s edge of the lagoon, the ancient fort in Jaffna is the second
largest existing fort in the Island. Originally built by the Portuguese in
1619 and re-built and expanded by the Dutch during the second half of the
17th and the 18th centuries to facilitate trading activities of Sri Lanka’s
northern region indicate not only of Jaffna’s strategic importance
to Europeans but its significance throughout Sri Lanka’s history.
The
five sided inner defense works consist of thick and high ramparts and
bastions with a wide and deep moat around it. The layout resembles
a geometrically regular pentagon which is defined by the ramparts with a
bastion at each corner of the pentagon. Beyond these defense works is the
star shaped moat, the outline of which roughly follows the bastion and rampart
walls.
The outer defense works include the glacis, the ravelins and a covered
way. Unlike the Dutch forts at Galle and Colombo, which were fortified
towns, the Jaffna Fort had an almost exclusively military and administrative
function. The fort is the only surviving example in Sri Lanka, where
its inner defenses has a geometrically regular pentagonal layout. Moreover
this is the only example in the Island, where outer fortifications consisting
of glacis, ravelins and covered way are to be seen.
Nelson in his book titled ‘Dutch Forts in Sri Lanka’ (1984)
goes on to declare that
‘it was, as a technical fort, ………….everything
was done to the latest design at each successive stage…….final
result was the strongest fortress in the East, the perfect defensive design
in the days of powerful and destructive solid shot artillery of limited effective
range. In Britain, fully comparable places are to be found only at the towns
of Berwick , at Fort George neat Inverness, at the citadel of Plymouth at
Tilbury Fort on the Thames approaches to London………….
There are many fine artillery fortifications from the same period around
the Indian Ocean. Yet it is doubtful whether in it’s technically perfection
and its completeness, Jaffna can be surpassed’.
Within the fort stand significant buildings of architectural importance.
The church erected in 1706, within the walled enclosure was one of the most
impressive architectural works of the northern region. This building, which
lacks significant ornamentation, showed how effective a buildings architecture
could be, if proportions (both exterior as well as interior), and massing
of volumes are correctly achieved.
The sheer verticality, enhanced by its
roof structure and high gable facades had made it the dominant structure
of the entire townscape. The Queen’s House (formerly, the Governor’s
Residence) was the best example of domestic building of the northern region
which represented at its best, the architectural characteristics that developed
during the 17th and 18th centuries in Sri Lanka. In its final evolution,
this stately building had a wide and spacious double- pillared verandah.
Jaffna fort with such heritage values of national and international significance
was in a perfect state of preservation until the country’s civil war
that erupted in the mid 1980’s. The fortifications and buildings within
it were severely damaged due to artillery fire. The Church is now reduced
to a heap of rubble.
Source :
www.cultural.gov.lk
Map
Created : January 2, 2010
Updated :
January 3, 2010
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