At midday I arrived at a fishing village located on the deepest coast of the bay known as Krueng Raya bay, east of Banda Aceh. The route to get there is the same route as the route to the previous fortress, only we need to continue the trip in less than half an hour.
In the village, which seems relatively quiet at midday, flows a river, which begins in the interior near the foot of the Seulawah mountain area, a mountain that is a landmark for this country which is situated on the northern tip of Sumatra.
The river flows not far from its mouth where it pours freshwater into the sea of the bay. Colorful fishing boats can be seen lining the left and right banks of the river. Some of them look like rafts with double boats carrying a kind of shelter on them. Such a raft does not go around looking for a school of fish, but rather it is in a position in the sea and will lure the flock of fish to approach either by bait during the day or by the lights at night.
It is on the left bank of the river in this village that an ancient structure is located. It lies only a dozen meters from the river flow, and less than two kilometers from the mouth of the river. So, it's quite close to the sea. From the position of the ancient structure, it does appear to be a more strategic position for a kind of security bastion or a fortress related to maritime affairs.
Signs of directions to the location of Iskandar Muda's fortress.
This ancient fortress site has been designated by the local government as a cultural heritage site.
Access to the inside of the fortress was via a ladder to the east of it. After climbing the ladder, one can only see what the structure really looks like. The entire structure appeared to be made of stone material roughly the size of a football, which may have been mined from the river. The stones also appear to have been glued together with a special kind of adhesive, a type of cement, available at that time.
The structure consisted of a thick wall about 3 meters above the ground, in the shape of a rectangle, about 500 meters on each side from the outside, and at certain distances, there was a semicircular hole, which was likely used for stake out or to lay down the barrel of a cannon. Meanwhile, from the inside, the wall also has a fairly wide terrace.
The wall apparently fortified another building within which was the main rectangular building with a height lower than the outer wall and parallel to the terrace. The building has a flat area, and there are some remnants of the walls that divide the flat area. The main building orientation is east-west. Physically, this main building can be recognized as the basic building of an ancient mosque on which wooden buildings are built. The wooden building must have long been destroyed and vanished without leaving anything behind. Access to the main building is only available from the north and east sides via stairs that are built right in the middle of the two sides.
The perimeter between the outer wall and the main building was separated by a floor space at a depth parallel to the ground surface outside the fortress. The width of this space on the east and north sides is about 5 meters, but on the west and south sides, the space looks a little less wide than that. On the east side of this space there are two buildings nearly 2 meters high in the form of a circular wall with three open sidelines. Both of these buildings are in fact to wall the wells that are inside them. Wells appear to have been an important element in any ancient Aceh fortress apart from the main building which was the mosque. Apart from functioning as a courtyard for the mosque, this space may also be used for security bases or military camps in situations of war.
In general, this fortress with its various buildings has a unique and distinctive architectural style typical of ancient Aceh, and in turn displays its own architectural beauty. Although there is no doubt that this fortress is one of the heritages inherited from Aceh's past, but regarding its history, many things are still a question mark.
People here know and call it the fortress of Iskandar Muda, one of the kings of Aceh who ruled in the 17th century, and is listed as one of the great kings of Aceh who has brought this country to the pinnacle of glory. This king is also known for his extensive diplomatic ties to European countries and local history recognizing him as ruler of the entire island of Sumatra. But to ensure that this fortress was built during the time of King Iskandar Muda, historians and researchers are still challenged to present more evidence for it.
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