Conservation of the Built Heritage of Colombo Fort

The City of Colombo is characterized by a neglected, deteriorating but potentially magnificent resource - one of the best examples of Built Heritage in South Asia. This heritage has been developed for well over five centuries as a Military Fort, the Administrative Capital, and in more recent times the Financial City of Sri Lanka. With the new proposals for the development of Colombo Port City as the Financial District and the Administrative functions having been already moved to Sri Jayawardenapura, Kotte, there is every possibility of Colombo Fort being neglected and provide a 'free for all' ad hoc development policy for this once important site, unless adequate safeguards are taken immediately to preserve this unique heritage for the future.

With a continuous history of over a thousand years of development around a natural harbour as a nucleus, Colombo boasts of a built heritage shared with three maritime powers in the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. This book provides a record of the history of the development of the history of Colombo Fort under various influences and the living examples of Built Heritage.