The Swarts House Site, located at Mudalige Mawatha in Colombo Fort, marks the location of a Dutch house once owned by Andries Swarts.
Swarts House Site (Colombo Fort)
Swarts House Site (Photo credit: Google Street View)
The Swarts House Site is located at No. 17 on Mudalige Mawatha in Colombo Fort, Sri Lanka. Histroy The present building at the site stands on the spot of a Dutch house that once belonged to Andries Swarts, a lieutenant in the service of the Dutch United East India Company [(VOC) Anthonisz, 1907; Denham, 1912]. He was tortured and put to death on 12 March 1729 because he had given offence to Petrus Vuyst, an infamous Dutch Governor of Ceylon who served the office from 1726 to 1729 (Anthonisz, 1907; Denham, 1912). Not content with killing Swartz, Vuyst razed his house to the ground and erected a pillar on the spot with an inscription warning others of Swarts's fate (Anthonisz, 1907; Denham, 1912). In the year 1729 is this Memorial raised to the accursed memory of the executed, traitor Andries Swarts on the site of his demolished dwelling-house to be to the righteous a token of incessant thankfulness to God for His Providence, and to…
