Fort Amsterdam: Aerial view. (photo RDMZ 1996)

1.  FORT AMSTERDAM

Location: Punda

Ownership: Government of the Netherlands Antilles

Fort Amsterdam consists of the Fort, constructed from 1635 and the buildings inside it, i.e., the Governor's Palace, the Fort Church from 1766 - 1769 and the former General Secretariat from 1857 - 1858, currently the Council of Ministers. Fort Amsterdam was built in the period after 1635. It consists of four bastions with intermediate courtines. The bastions and courtines form a trapezium, with the longest side to the South. It is built of irregular pieces of coral stone, jointed with lime mortar. There are entrances on the Western Side below the Governor's Palace and on the South-Eastern side. Period metalling on the bastions and courtines.

Fort Amsterdam is of general interest for the history of the island on the strength of its value for architectural and cultural history. Fort Amsterdam is one of the oldest buildings on the island and is the oldest fort built by the West Indian Company (W I C) on Curaçao. 

Fort Amsterdam: Governor's Palace. (photo RDMZ 1996)

Governor's Palace, Fort Amsterdam, Punda

Ownership: Government of the Netherlands Antilles

The Governor's Palace was built between the two Western bastions in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. It consists of two adjacent elongated pavilions, of which the Western is older and also longer than the Eastern. Two storeys with roofing. Western facade on Saint Anna Bay: symmetrically constructed facade with a projecting center section. Two cannons (1881) are situated near the stairway on the inner courtyard.

The Seventeenth Century Governor's Palace traditionally served as a center of management for the Managing Director appointed by the West Indian Company and later for the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles.

Fort Amsterdam: Fort church. (photo RDMZ 1996)

Fort Church, Fort Amsterdam, Punda

Ownership: Verenigde Protestantse Gemeente (United Protestant Church) Curaçao 

In its present condition, the Fort Church dates from 1766 - 1769 and was formerly the garrison church within the Fort. It consists of a detached building with the ridge parallel to the inner courtyard of Fort Amsterdam. It is build in three storeys with a tiled roof. 

Interior: four columns in the length of the church carry in pairs a stone construction of four arches on which a vault arises. Pulpit and Governor's pew are made of mahogany, both Eighteenth Century. 

An 19th century organ was renovated in 1998.