Delft Gateway, a Dutch-era entrance to Colombo Fort, built with bricks and Kabok, remains preserved at Bristol Street and is a protected monument.
Delft Gateway (Colombo Fort) D elft Gateway (Sinhala: කොළඹ ඩෙල්ෆ්ට් දොරටුව) is located on the Commercial Bank building premises at No. 9, Bristol Street in Colombo Fort, Sri Lanka. History This gateway has been identified as one of the entrances to the now-destroyed Colombo Fort (Rajapakshe et al., 2018). It was built by the Dutch during their colonial rule on the island from 1658 to 1796 (Rajapakshe et al., 2018; Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016). The Dutch left the country in 1796 and the British took over the control of the areas held by them. Although the ramparts of the fort were removed by the British in about 1872 to acquire the space for their administrative buildings, they left this gateway unharmed (Rajapakshe et al., 2018). The Gate The gate has been built using bricks and Kabok (laterite) stones (Rajapakshe et al., 2018). The width of the gate is 5.1 m and the perimeter of the remaining wall is 15.9 m (Rajapakshe et al., 2018). A stone slab containing the year 1854 is found placed near the gate (Rajapaksh…
