Dutch Fort Katuwana

Good for a trip.Good experience.

The fort in most interior to the country and hence no much tourists attraction yet beautiful.

Superb place

Katuwana Dutch Fort is the most interiorly located Dutch Fortification in Sri Lanka which is in a better codition among other forts. It was built in 1645 by the Dutch East India Company. Katuwana Fort is a 150'x150' square shape boulder stone construction with lime mortar. The rampart is 20 feet hight externally and 8 to 12 feet interiorly as the central square is in two tiers for defence purposes. 

After abandonment of more than 200 years, the Archeological Department inscribed Katuwana Dutch Fort as an Archeological reserve in 1980 and started conservation work in 2007 with the help of the Government of Netherlands.

At present (2016) it is well preserved and maintained. If you are going to Embilipitiya or Udawalawe from Matara, passing Walasmulla, it takes only less than hour to visit this attractive place.

One of the smaller dutch forts which is located inland. The fort has been built 1697 by the Dutch East India Trading Company (VOC) on the northern edge of the southern territory under their control. The fort is of square shape with two bastions at opposite corners and one main entrance. Even though the fort was located in a remote isolated area it has held a strategically import and place as this is located at the edge of the Kandyan kingdom. The fort has been ground to many battles between the Dutch and Kandyan troops. And in 1761 Katuwana fort was taken over by the Kandyan troops after a few days of fighting. Later during the British period again the Katuwana fort was ground to another battle after the failed invasion of Kandy during Sir Fredrik North's time in 1805. Later with the British taking over the control of the entire island the fort fell out of it's strategic importance and was taken over by nature until being re-found and restored. The fort ramparts are well preserved and there has been restoration work which was done during the past few years. However apart from the fort walls and a well there are no historic buildings left inside the fort. If you are taking the route via Embilipitiya it takes around 20 min of travel time. The roads are in very good condition . It has very low number of visitors. Its a good place to visit if you are keen to know about colonial history of the island. There is no public restrooms or helpdesk on site. Best time to visit this will be during the day time as there is poor lighting during the night time. I found this enchanting.