page_title: Kuto Besak
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kuto Besak / History
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: foto. KNIL militairen met kinderen voor de poort van het fort te Palembang
context_page_description: Kuto Besak, also Benteng Kuto Besak is an 18th-century kraton in Palembang, Indonesia. Kuto Besak was the center of the Sultanate of Palembang before its abolition by the Dutch colonial government. The fort was constructed in 1780 and took seventeen years to complete. Kuto Besak was inaugurated in 1797, marked by the transfer of the royal residence from the older Kuto Lamo to Kuto Besak.
context_section_description: Before Kuto Besak, the center of the Sultanate of Palembang was located at Kraton Kuto Gawang, located at what is now the headquarters of the Pupuk Sriwidjaja, a state-owned fertilizer company. In 1651, the kraton was attacked by the Dutch East India Company who wanted to monopolize the trade in Palembang. The attack devastated the fortified palace of Kuto Gawang and as a result, the royal palace was transferred to a new place at Kraton Beringin Janggut (now the site is located at Pasar 16 Ilir). During the reign of Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin I (1724-1758), the kraton was moved again to Kraton Kuto Lama.
  Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin I had a plan to build the fourth kraton. The construction of the fort only started decades later in 1780, during the reign of Muhammad Bahauddin (1776-1803). The construction was supervised by the Chinese using native and Chinese laborers. Construction took seventeen years and in 1797 the new fort was completed. Sultan Mahmud Bahauddin officially inaugurated the new fort on February 21, 1797. At the same time, the royal family and the government administration of the Sultanate moved to the new fort. At its completion, the fort was one of the four kratons of the Palembang Sultanate; the other kratons were Kraton Kuto Gawang, Kraton Beringin Janggut, and Kraton Kuto Batu/Kuto Lama, which together acted as administrative centers of the Sultanate.
  On June 25, 1821, the Palembang Sultanate fell to the Dutch colonial government. The kraton Kuto Besak was officially taken over by the Dutch colonial government on July 1, 1821. Before the kraton was taken over by force, the Sultan ordered the destruction of all the valuables inside the kraton. When the Dutch entered the kraton, they discovered only books, several coins and gold, and 74 cannons. On July 13, 1821, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II and his relatives were exiled from the kraton to the island of Ternate, Maluku. Mahmud Badaruddin stayed in Ternate until his death on September 26, 1852. The kraton was then re-purposed as the residence for Resident R. Keer and mess halls for 400 Dutch soldiers.
  Today Kuto Besak is used as the headquarters of the defense command Kodam II/Sriwijaya, a legacy from the colonial era which the Indonesian government did not manage to change. With very little maintenance, the inner buildings of the 18th-century fort degraded slowly, despite its former might and importance. The fort is still closed to the public.
caption: Kuto Besak in early 20th-century.
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