Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications

Dutch gables shade tropical streets inside the ramparts of Galle, the fortified port the Portuguese founded in the 16th century and the Dutch East India Company rebuilt into the finest surviving European fortress town of South and Southeast Asia. Its heyday came in the 18th century, before the British arrived, and its architecture marries European planning with South Asian craft and climate. UNESCO inscribed the old town and fortifications in 1988.