Malaysia · 16th century
A Famosa (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐ faˈmɔzɐ]) was a Portuguese fortress built in Malacca, Malaysia, around 1512. The oldest part of the fortress was a five-storey keep which eventually gave its name to the fortress as a whole. Some time following the Battle of Malacca (1641) and the occupation of the city by the Dutch, the keep was destroyed but the outer walls of the fortress were expanded. However, in 1811 the British destroyed all of the original fortress and most of the outer walls. The Porta de Santiago gateway, and the rebuilt Middelburg Bastion, are the only parts of the fortress that remain today.
Text adapted from “A Famosa” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A Famosa ranks #674 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 12 mapped in Malaysia. Founded 1511, it is older than 42% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 891 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 7,973 times in the last 60 days, more than 92% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Malaysia compares in the castle statistics.
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