Coloring B&W photo, Inside Fort Rotterdam, Makassar, Indonesia, 1947. Photographer: Mr. Charles Breijer (1914-2011, he was one of the famous dutch photographers in his era).
Fort Rotterdam is a 17th. century fort, this was once a fully functional fort, the center of the Dutch colonial power in Celebes, Dutch East India (now Sulawesi, Indonesia) from 1667 until around 1937. The fort is 128.000 square feet on 29 acres of land, it has 6 bulwarks, so yes it's a quite big fortress.
It was named after the birthplace of Mr. Cornelis Speelman (the Nederlands Indië governor at that time), Rotterdam.
During the Japanese brief occupation in Indonesia from 1942 to 1945, the Japanese used it as a cultural center, prison, and scientific research until the end of the war in 1945. When the Japanese surrendered, this fort later abandoned and completely neglected, but in the ‘70s after about 25 years of ruin and neglect, this fort finally was extensively restored by the government of Indonesia.
This is one of my projects from another history forum that discusses photos from the Dutch Colonial time in East Indies, now Indonesia.
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Present-day from the air
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