Sri Lanka · 16th century
Mannar Fort ranks #6,313 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #11 of the 15 mapped in Sri Lanka. Founded 1560, it is older than 35% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 887 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. See how Sri Lanka compares in the castle statistics.
Mannar Fort (Tamil: மன்னார்க் கோட்டை, romanized: Maṉṉārk Kōṭṭai; Sinhala: මන්නාරම් බලකොටුව Mannaram Balakotuwa) is located on Mannar Island, Sri Lanka. It was built by Portuguese in 1560 and christened São Jorge. The fort fell to the Dutch in 1658, and they rebuilt the fort in 1696. In 1795 the British occupied the fort following the surrender by the Dutch.
It is a square-shaped fort with four bastions and is located next to the new bridge that connects the mainland with the Mannar Island.
The fort is currently occupied by the Department of Archeology.
Text adapted from “Mannar fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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