Africa from the Rooftops – Mombasa
These photos were taken from the roof of a bank in Mombasa, Kenya. You can see more at my Africa from the Rooftops album. I was installing computer systems in their IT room to monitor radio and television advertisements.
Fort Jesus
Fort Jesus (Portuguese: Forte Jesus de Mombaça) is a fort located on Mombasa Island. Designed by Italian Giovanni Battista Cairati, it was built between 1593 and 1596, by order of King Philip I of Portugal, to guard the Old Port of Mombasa. Fort Jesus was the only fort maintained by the Portuguese on the Swahili coast, and is recognised as a testament to the first successful attempt by a Western power to establish influence over the Indian Ocean trade.
Cairato, the designer of the fort, was inspired by Italian architect Pietro Cataneo, while the master builder was Gaspar Rodrigues. The fort was Cairato’s last overseas work. Although the design of Fort Jesus is an example of Renaissance architecture, the masonry techniques, building materials and labour are believed to have been provided by the local Swahili people. The fort was built in the shape of a man (viewed from the air) and is roughly square, with four bulwarks at its corners. The fort is considered a masterpiece of late Renaissance military fortification.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Jesus
Rooftops and Mosque
Mombasa (/mɒmˈbæsə/ mom-BASS-ə, also US: /-ˈbɑːs-/ -BAH-sə) is a coastal city in southeast Kenya along the Indian Ocean. The city is known as the white and blue city in Kenya. It is the country’s oldest (circa 900 AD) and second-largest city (after the capital Nairobi), with a population of about 1,208,333 people according to the 2019 census. Its metropolitan region is the second-largest in the country, and has a population of 3,528,940 people.
Mombasa is a tourism-based city; it has an extra-large port and an international airport, and is an important regional tourism centre. Located on the east coast of Kenya, it also is the home of one of the state houses, and is considered by some as a second capital in all but name. In 2018 the local government released an edict in which the city was painted white with blue accents and the old town was painted yellow. In Mombasa County and the former Coast Province, Mombasa’s situation on the Indian Ocean made it a historical trading centre, and it has been controlled by many countries because of its strategic location.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mombasa
Fort Jesus
Mombasa” Skyline”