Fort San Domingo
Fuerte San Domingo
Fort San Domingo (Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Danshui) – located in the outskirts of Taipei, the Spanish built this fort during the beginning of the 17th century. In 1641, the Dutch, who had colonized Southern Taiwan, advanced north, drove out the Spanish and built a new fortress, which is the one you can see now. Because the Dutch were called Hongmao (red-haired) by the local people, the fort became known to the Taiwanese as Hong Mao-Fortress. In 1661 the Dutch were driven out of Tainan and the last ones left the island in 1668. When Taiwan got back under the rule of the Qing-Dynasty, the fort didn’t get a lot of attention. In 1724 it finally was repaired and a wall and four gates were added, but no army was stationed in the fort.
In 1860, when China was forced to open the harbor of Danshui, the British put their eye on this place and rented the fort from the Qing Court permanently to establish a consulate. The British not only renovated the fort, in 1891 they also started to build the home of the consul on the east side of the fort. From that time on the fort was under the jurisdiction of Great Britain.
In 1972, when Britain set up diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, the fortress was passed through the hands of Australia and America until it was reclaimed by the Taiwanese government in 1980. The fortress was renovated after it was graded a Class I National Historic Monument and is now open to the public.
NT$80 (foreigners and citizens who reside outside of New Taipei City); Free admission for residents of New Taipei City. Hours: 9:30 am – 5:00 pm (Monday – Friday), 9:30 am – 6:00 pm (weekends).