The Fort of São Sebastião lies at the northern end of

Stone Town Stonetown of Zanzibar (), also known as , is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo, Swahili for 'the other side'. Stone Town is located on the western coast of Un ...

on the

Island of Mozambique The Island of Mozambique () lies off northern Mozambique, between the Mozambique Channel and Mossuril Bay, and is part of Nampula Province. Prior to 1898, it was the capital of colonial Portuguese East Africa. With its rich history and sandy b ...

. It is the oldest complete fort still standing in sub-Saharan

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Construction by the Portuguese began in 1558, and it took about fifty years to complete. Immediately beyond the fort is the recently restored Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, built in 1522, which is considered to be the oldest European building in the southern hemisphere. It is also one of the best examples of

Manueline The Manueline (, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manueline architecture inco ...

vaulted architecture in

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. This was shown in the 1964 movie Africa Addio / Africa Blood and Guts

3D documentation

In 2013, the

Zamani Project The Zamani Project is part of the African Cultural heritage, Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes Database. Zamani is a research group at the University of Cape Town, which acquires, models, presents and manages spatial and other data from cultu ...

documented Fort of São Sebastião with terrestrial 3D laser scanning. The non-profit research group from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

(South Africa) specialises in 3D digital documentation of tangible cultural heritage. The data generated by the Zamani Project creates a permanent record that can be used for research, education, restoration, and conservation.

Notes

External links

Zamani Project 3D documentation and tour
16th-century fortifications Sao Sebastiao Portuguese forts Maritime history of Portugal Buildings and structures in Nampula Province Tourist attractions in Nampula Province Portuguese colonial architecture in Mozambique {{mozambique-geo-stub