Fort St George and the Fort Museum

Fort St George is the founding stone of modern Chennai. The East India Company acquired the land in 1639 and the fort was built soon afterwards, completed in the early 1640s, around a small trading post that grew into the city of Madras. Today the fort is the working seat of the Tamil Nadu government, which means that much of it is not open to the public, but the museum in the old Exchange building, St Mary's Church and the ramparts and flagstaff give a clear picture of colonial life on the Coromandel Coast. The museum, run by the Archaeological Survey of India, is arranged across several galleries and holds portraits, coins, medals, maps, weapons, uniforms and household objects from the Company era and the Raj, along with early prints of Madras. St Mary's Church, built in the late seventeenth century, is described as the oldest Anglican church in India, and its tombstones and memorial tablets read like a roll call of early traders, soldiers and administrators. The fort's tall flagstaff, among the tallest in India, rises above the walls, and the Indo-Saracenic buildings nearby remind you how the British mixed Indian and European styles.

Visiting takes a little preparation. The fort is a secure government complex, so expect checks at the entrance and carry photo identification. The museum and church are open to the public on set days and hours, and there is normally a weekly closing day, so confirm the schedule before you go. Photography rules inside the museum can be strict. Allow a couple of hours to walk the ramparts, see the museum and spend time in the church, and keep a little time free to read the inscriptions on the church floor.

A guided tour lifts this from a dusty museum visit into a story. A guide can explain how the original fortified settlement was laid out, why the walls and bastions faced the sea, how Robert Clive and Elihu Yale fit into the story, and what life was like for the Company's staff. City tours that combine Fort St George with Kapaleeshwarar Temple, like the one linked here, are efficient ways to cover the two most important faces of Chennai's history, the Tamil city and the colonial one, in a single day.

It helps to know a little of the cast before you arrive. The Company's first factory on this coast was established under a grant from a local ruler, and the settlement that grew outside the walls became one of the earliest English footholds in India. The fort's inhabitants included Governor Elihu Yale, whose later gift helped found a famous American university, and Robert Clive, who began his career here as a young clerk.

Seeing the church monuments and portraits with those names in mind turns a quiet museum into a window on the early British presence in South India, and it makes the later buildings of Madras easier to read.

Plan the visit for the morning, when it is cooler and the museum is quieter. Wear comfortable shoes for the stone paths and the museum floors, bring water and a hat for the ramparts, and keep small change for the entrance. The fort sits close to Marina Beach, the Government Museum and George Town, so it works well as the anchor of a day in the old centre. If you only have time for one colonial site in Chennai, this is the one that best explains how the city came to exist.