Fort & Pettah Architecture

Snapshot

Colombo’s three-mile long rampart, cordoning off the area covered by today’s Fort and Pettah, was originally built in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese and then further developed by the Dutch and the British. Today, it is the commercial hub of the country consisting of government offices, banks, five-star hotels and the country’s largest wholesale bazaar; a maze of by lanes and small shops crowded with people frantically buying and selling. Every unimaginable item is sold here at a bargain - fruit, vegetables, fish, spices, fabric, and even gold jewelry. In the Fort district, many of the old colonial buildings still stand gloriously, side by side with the rest of Colombo’s modern skyline. Interesting buildings to visit include the Galle Face Hotel (once the mansion of a British Governor), the Presidential Secretariat (previously the Parliament house), Grand Oriental Hotel (previously barracks for soldiers during Dutch period), the red & white Cargills & Millers department store buildings, the General Post Office building (the Delft Gateway built during the Dutch period), and the Fort Police Station (previously a Dutch hospital). The St. Peter’s Church and the Wovendaal Church located by the Grand Oriental Hotel were also built during the Dutch period.