Foundation stones laid for the Castle of Good Hope

On 2 January 1666, Zacharias Wagenaer and senior Cape officials laid the foundation stones of a five-bastioned stone castle at the Cape. The new fortress was designed to replace the earlier Fort de Goede Hoop and was built by soldiers, sailors and enslaved people under VOC direction.

Significance

The Castle became the military, judicial and administrative centre of VOC rule at the Cape. Built between 1666 and 1679, it still stands in Cape Town as the oldest remaining colonial building in South Africa and now functions as a heritage site and museum complex.