The Importance of Cultural Heritage Castle As
Indonesia is one country that is very unique in the world. An archipelagic country with diverse natural resources, a variety of agricultural products, tropical climate and extremely fertile soil, has been recognized and attracted much interest in various nations around the world.
At about the beginning of the 16th century, so many foreign nations came to Indonesia and explore our natural wealth. Spices, wood and minerals is one of the various commodities of interest at the time. For some reason some of these foreign nations trying to maintain a monopoly position and trading business in Indonesia. Portuguese, Dutch and English as the countries that had stopped to Indonesia, to build fortifications or fortress in an attempt to maintain their security in the trade. Forts currently has a high value because it is a Cultural Heritage and the common property of several countries that have been mentioned above and even including Indonesia. Some castle in Indonesia under conditions that preserved and utilized well enough, but more of an abandoned fort and in appalling condition. It is important to have a real vision of doing restoration fort as a historical legacy, because the castle is one of the objects of interest in its role as part of Indonesian history and cultural wealth of the nation.
There are over 275 defenses spread throughout Indonesia, both in the large islands to the smallest island to witness the incredible journey of history, a physical condition that diverse. As an example of a big castle which was known as the Castle of Batavia in Jakarta, has been demolished in the early 19th century, but like Vredeburg in Yogyakarta, Fort Rotterdam in Makassar in Sulawesi, Southeast and Fort Malborough in Bengkulu is still in very good condition, has a function new, stand firm and be a landmark of great importance. Given its function as a defense building at once for trading activities, the fort must consider the elements in the art of military architecture. Also important for planning spaces for the traders, offices, warehouses for finished goods, the church (place of worship), and hospital course for army barracks, ammunition storage, making the castle into a building which is a complex or small town with various fasilitis to communities in it. In fact it can be said of a settlement of western civilization in an environment with the eastern tropical climate. Determination for the location of settlements in small scale and solid is influenced by environmental characteristics and strategic functions of the fort itself, so that in general the castle is located in the coastal areas near the harbor or along the banks of rivers.