Anping Fort

Many historical sites in Tainan represent the 300 year history of Taiwan. Anping Fort (安平古堡) is one of them. It is also the oldest castle in Taiwan. It represents the time of Taiwan from the Dutch to Japanese occupations and until Taiwan’s retrocession. Although what you have seen now of the Anping Fort is the rebuilt of several times, which no longer has the magnificent look, it still preserves the rich history data and is a significant cultural resort.

Let me share with you a little bit history of the Fort through which you may also see the history of Taiwan.

Anping Fort was built in 1624 and completed in 1634 by Dutch. It was first named “Orlande City” and changed to “Fort Zeelandia”. After Zheng Chenggong drove out the Dutch, it was named as “Anping Town” as Zheng’s mansion. The “Taiwan City” was also named at that time. However, in order to build the dormitory for the customs during the Japanese occupation, Anping Fort was totally destroyed. A square ladder-style platform was built at the original location. In the center of the platform, a western-style house was built. This is what we see in Anping Fort now. “Anping Fort” was named after Taiwan’s retrocession.

This is definitely a well-maintained, quiet and relaxing site to visit. We often see school students on their field trip here to learn the history of Taiwan. The remaining wall of the castle and the materials of the walls definitely caught my attention!

Here is the original remaining Taiwan city wall (台灣城殘蹟) since 17th century. Once again you can also see the banyan aerial roots and trunks on the walls.

The height of the wall is about 10 meters and the wall was made by red bricks mixed with "sticky rice", "syrup" and "oyster shell ash"!

Not until the oyster farming experience that we had near Cigu, Tainan, I did not know the oyster shells ash can be made for the building material. Since Anping is the oyster production land, no wonder the remaining wall since 17th century Dutch time was mixed with oyster shell ash. The museum of “Anping Oyster Shell Cement Kilin” (安平蚵灰窯) nearby has also shown the history record.

The below photo shows the original oyster shell cement kilin in the museum which is also the only one left and well preserved. (“Anping Oyster Shell Cement Kilin” museum is located on the east side of Anping Fort. It is about 10 minutes walking distance from Anping Fort.)

It is very interesting to know that the bricks with darker color of the remaining wall of the Anping Fort were from Indonesia and those with light color shipped from Sia-men, Fujian, China. (Photo below)

The scissors-shape of concavity on the wall was used to lock the beam to avoid damages from earthquakes. The square cave was dug by the army in Ching's Dynasty to put posts while constructing their barracks.

Here are the Anping Fort Monument and the Artillery Fort.

The Zheng Chenggong’s statue reminds us how he defended Taiwan from the Dutch on the territorial seas.

The Remnants of the Taiwan city walls in Anping Fort with the devastated bullets mark showing the splendid military exploits have become the best evidence of the history!

Source- Anping Harbor National Historical Park Read More