Today I traveled to Fort Rotterdam, and this is what I found!
Fort Rotterdam may still be a bit strange in some circles, but in fact this fort has become one of the historic forts in Indonesia. Fort Rotterdam is a fort inherited from the kingdom of Gowa-Tallo which is located in Bulo Gading, Ujung Pandang Makassar, South Sulawesi or more precisely on the west coast of Makassar. This fort was built in 1545 by I Manrigau Daeng Bonto Karaeng Lakiung, the 9th king of Gowa, which means this fort was established before Indonesia's independence and is the grandest fort among 17 other forts.
Before it was named Fort Rotterdam this fort was called the fort of tip of view. Of course there is a story behind the change in the name of this fort, namely during the bongaya agreement. When the Bongaya agreement occurred on November 18, 1667 between the kingdom of Goa and the Netherlands, there was one of the contents of the agreement which required the cave work to surrender the fortress of Ujung Pandang to the Dutch. When the Dutch occupied this fort, the name Ujung Pandang was changed to the name Fort Rotterdam by Cornelis Speelman with a new architectural style, namely the Dutch architectural style, different from the previous Portuguese architectural style.
The name Fort Rotterdam is named in memory of the place where Cornelis Speelman was born. However, the people of the cave usually refer to this cave as Panyyua, which is the headquarters of the Gowa Kingdom's frog troops.
This fort was registered as a historic building on May 23, 1940, after about 200 years it has been placed as the center of the Dutch government. Having a unique shape, which is like a turtle, it has its own philosophy, where the fort building is shaped like a turtle going down to the sea. Of course, it is not without reason that this form describes a victorious kingdom on land and seas like a turtle that is able to live in two places, namely sea and land.
Even though it has been standing for hundreds of years, this fort, which is usually known as the fort of tip of view, still looks solid with the main arched gate giving a majestic impression accompanied by the carving of the name of fort Rotterdam on a board located at the top of the gate.
The majestic impression on the outside is not enough, even the inside of this bull is able to impress the eyes with a green garden accompanied by neat grass and a clean yard that can spoil the eyes and increase the comfort of the visitors. Besides that, beside this bull there is also the La Galigo museum which contains the history and culture of South Sulawesi from prehistoric times to the present. Not only that, around the fort there are also art galleries and shops selling everything from souvenirs to saga books. This is a suitable and complete tourist destination, besides being a tourist place, it is also a place to add insight by learning its histories.
