TOURKENYA

HISTORIC SITES

NATIONAL PARKS

AND GAME RESERVES

HISTORIC SITES

ANIMALS

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

RIFT VALLEY

ACCOMODATION

MOMBASA

CONTACT

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

The site is located in Mombasa Island which is in theCoast province ofKenya. It lies a distance of about490 km from Nairobi.Nairobi city. It lies on the grid (513,755).

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FORT.

The fort has a lot of history attached to it. It was built in 1593 on acoral ridge at the entrance of the harbour. The earliest known planof the fort was in manuscript atlas by Manuel Godinho de Herediadated 1610, which shows the original layout of the buildings inside the fort .The fort was built for the security and safety of the Portuguese from the Oman arabs who attacked the fort from 1696 to 1698. Between 1837 to 1895 the fort was used as a barracks for the soldiers. When the british protectorate was proclaimed on the 1st july 1895, the fort was converted into a prison. On the 24th October 1958 it was declared a national park in the custody of the trustees of the kenya national park. Excavation was carried out and the fort became a museum in 1962. The fort was build with a grant from Gulbenkian Foundation . Exhibits consists of finding from archaeological excavation at fort Jesus Gedi, Mandas, Ungwana and other sites.

VISITING THE FORT

The Fort is open daily from 8:30 to 6:30 for Ksh 200 ( Aprox 2 pounds ). Today fort jesus retains most of its original character. The best time to visit is probably first thing in the morning, the guide book for sale is an interesting store of information. These are some of the things to look out for:

- The restored Omani house

- The ruins of a church, store rooms and may be even shops

- The main courtyard

-The hall of Mazrui with its beautiful stone benches and eighteen century inscription.

- A room entirely for the display of a large plaster panel of older graffiti, scribbled and etched on the wall by the portuguese with interesting subjects like ships, figures of armour ( including caricatures of the fort wielding his baton), fish, chameleon and various motifs.

- In the museum, a big curved door taken from the Mazrui house in Gazi under well vertebra used as a stool.

- A first class restaurant behind the ticket office for a lunch dish.

The museum is trying to recover as much as possible the wreck of the Santa Antonio de Tanna which sunk in 1697 while trying to break the prolonged siege of the fort.

Contact

Warden: P.O Box 82412

Phone No: 011/ 312839.