When you are in altitude, then Fort Rotterdam will be obvious form of sea turtles. It is conceivable, when the fort was still functioning, from head turtle eyes look directly into the ocean. Fort Rotterdam is located on the beach. The extent of up to three hectares. No wonder, the fort became an icon of the city of Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Visitors can browse fort by walking the catwalk on the outskirts of the castle. It should be about 30 minutes to circle the castle. In the past, the Dutch soldiers on guard at the bridge. The troops were gathered in the head and turtle hand complete with weapons, ready to face the enemy attacks from the sea. Although the name Fort Rotterdam, but do not get me wrong. The fort was originally named Fort Ujung Pandang. Yes, the Kingdom of Gowa who make it are not the Dutch fort. Around the year 1620, the King of Gowa built the fort was repeated with Rock stone. Previously, the fort was built with clay.

All began with famous figures from the Dutch colonial history, a Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies named Cornelis Speelman. In 1667, Port of Ujung Pandang succeed he mastered in the interest of the spice monopoly. VOC want to get rid of the Portuguese and English from the map of the spice trade in eastern Indonesia.

Sultan Hasanuddin national hero in 1667 signed an agreement with the VOC Bongaya. The agreement is a portrait of the defeat of the Kingdom of Gowa. As a result, most of the fortress kingdom of Gowa in South Sulawesi was destroyed Netherlands. Netherlands leaving only Fort Sombaopu. Meanwhile, Fort Ujung Pandang must be submitted to the Netherlands.

Speelman rebuild Fortress Ujung Pandang and changed its name to Fort Rotterdam. Fort Rotterdam is the name of his birthplace in the Netherlands. Sarif, guard La Galigo State Museum, said, Speelman rebuild fortress with the concept of European civilization on earth forming Makassar. “When rebuilt, Speelman wearing gothic architectural style as in his hometown. Inside the fort there are several buildings,”said Sarif.

The buildings have different functions. Starting from the residence of the governor of the VOC, the Protestant Church, hospitals, dormitories soldiers, spice warehouses, libraries, until the mayor’s office. Fort Rotterdam in its heyday is like a small town feel of Europe in the native soil. One of the unique building is a warehouse of spices. Safir told, VOC until ordered some soldiers to guard the warehouse for 24 hours. While at the library also serves as a school.

“The children of the king were recruited by Netherland to learn the history, culture, and treatment. One of the instructors are experts from British history,”said Safir. The expert collects the history of the legendary La Galigo text in the form of palm leaf 600 pages and translate them into Dutch. Safir told, some people continue to look for La Galigo, one of whom was Thomas Stamford Raffles, Governor General of Dutch East Indies in 1811. Apparently La Galigo reached 1,000 pages.

“La Galigo is a form of epic poetry texts from Sawerigading. One story is Sawerigading who migrate to China. La Galigo write in the language of the Bugis and there are three elements, namely linguistic, political, and love. This is the work of the longest epic in the world, beat epic Mahabharata, “he explained. Because of this uniqueness, La Galigo included in UNESCO’s World Heritage in 2006. In the area of ??Fort Rotterdam Museum La Galigo there that not only tells the La Galigo, but also the history and culture of South Sulawesi as well as the history of Fort Rotterdam. Now, the government is to revitalize the fort.

Local governments and the central government wants the fortress unconditioned same as in its heyday. One of them is by making a trench around the fort as of yore. In addition, there are also buildings outside the fort that was destroyed. Uniquely, this fort area including historic sites that live up to now. On weekends, many communities that have activities in this fortress. Article by Bali villa, the luxury private villas in Bali.