Pallippuram Fort or (Paleport Castelo em Cima) is a fort in Pallippuram, Vyppin,

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

district of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, south

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was built by

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

sailors on 27 September, 1503 using just timber wood, and later renovated in 1505 by replacing timber structure with stone. It is the oldest existing

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

fort in India. The Dutch captured the fort in 1663 and sold it to the Kingdom of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

in 1789. The fort is situated in the northern extremity of Vypeen island and is hexagonal in shape, a form popularly known as ''ayikkotta'' or ''alikotta''.

Structure

Hexagonal in shape, the lowest internal floor of the fort is raised to a height of . The gate and the door posts, and the lintels are finely dressed and arched while underground there is a cellar that was used to store gunpowder. A well provided a source of fresh water. There is an opening to the north which leads to the cellar. There is a circular slab stone, on which was installed a pillar on which the radiating wooden struts supporting the upper two floors must have rested. Each face of the fort measures long and high while the walls are six feet thick. Each face of the fort has three embrasures, one above the other. The central opening of the embrasures measures . The fort could have mounted as many as guns commanding all quarters round it. There is an open space inside affording easy passage to the cellar. The fort is constructed using laterite, '' chunam'', and wood. The walls are thickly plastered using mortar. The door way in the central circular slab is made of granite. All the six sides of the fort are overgrown with vegetation. It has an underground path which connects to some other openings. It was saying that the route goes under rivers and lands which they used to escape from enemies when needed. The underground path is permanently closed now.

Gallery

File:Ayakotta information board.jpg, Information board File:Ayakotta pallipuram (Inner view).jpg, Inner area of ayakotta File:Pallippuram-fort-02.jpg, Ruins of the Fort(Wide View) File:Pallippuram-fort-03.jpg, Entrance

References

External links

Cochin.orgEnchantingkerala.orgPallippuram Fort on Flickr
Forts in Kerala Portuguese forts in India Colonial Kerala Buildings and structures in Ernakulam district Portuguese in Kerala Infrastructure completed in 1503 1503 establishments in India 1500s establishments in Portuguese India 16th-century forts in India 1661 establishments in the Dutch Empire {{India-struct-stub