Fort Jesus Museum
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How it came to be
Fort Jesus stands on a spur of coral rock at the southern edge of Mombasa Island, Kenya. The Portuguese built it in 1593-1596 to guard the port, to designs by the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Cairati. Seen from the air it is roughly square, shaped like a human figure, with bastions at the corners.
After the Portuguese lost it to the Sultan of Mombasa in 1631, the fort changed hands again and again. In 1696-1698 Omani Arabs took it after a long siege, ending Portuguese power on the coast.
The British occupied it in 1895 and used it as a prison. It became a national museum in 1958 and was inscribed in 2011.
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