panaji the refurbished 16th century reis magos fort styled as a model of adaptive reuse since inauguration has attracted 165 lakh footfalls with its diverse features but is yet to be fully exploited as a cultural centre the fort served as a prison till 1993 after which it was abandoned and fell into a state of neglect in 2010 it finally received a new lease of life through a 35crore restoration project funded by the ukbased helen hamlyn trust the archives and archaeology department pursued it as a prototype of a selfsustaining model for reuse of heritage structures and officials believe the attempt has been fairly successful a total of 165 lakh footfalls have been recorded since its opening including nearly 27000 during the last five months director of archives and archaeology blossom medeira says tourists locals students and curious visitors climb the steps to the once strategic fort perched on the headland at the narrowest stretch of the mandovi for a peep into history and for an understanding of the defence bulwarks of a fortified system if one visits the fort one can learn about history and practically see what a bastion or a citadel is for students this is different from what is taught in school and what they read in books medeira says for the tourists it is a typical fort of the portuguese era that provides insight into goas history the forts location is beautiful and the structure talks about goas history and how the portuguese defended their territory says noted architect gerard dcunha who carried out the restoration four years ago after the indian national trust for art and cultural heritage intach in association with archives and archaeology department entrusted the project to him in 2010 first devised as an armed outpost by adil shah of bijapur in 1493 the portuguese later built a fort at the site which served as a strategic quarter for viceroys and other dignitaries arriving from lisbon to rest after a weary journey today the fort is a cultural centre and a tourist attraction but many heritage lovers are of the similar view that it is not being utilized to its full potential and is not quite selfsustaining a model either dcunha concedes that it is meant to be a cultural centre intertwining the community we have to involve more people have a calendar of events a music festival a childrens festival and other events he says heritage lover and coowner of goas first classified heritage hotel jack sukhija agrees with dcunha it is necessary that heritage buildings are reused and become economically self sustaining the way to do this is to use them for events especially high end weddings but access to public should be ensured sukhija says the leasing out of tiracol fort for adaptive reuse had sparked off bitterness in the 1990s as the concept was new then and the monument was partly accessible to visitors the reis magos restoration project had also kicked up a row