Dutch Tombs

The Dutch Tombs are excellent specimen of Indo-European architecture in Ahmedabad. The cemetery in One Tree Park near Kankaria Lake was the final resting place for Dutch, English and Armenians who died while living and working in Ahmedabad. The Dutch Tombs are architecturally-interesting with a fusion of Indian, Mughal and European architectural elements.

Both the British and the Dutch set up factories in Gujarat during the 1600s and 1700s, most of them in Surat but some establishments in Ahmedabad and other cities. 

The directorate of the Dutch East India Company from 1616 to 1795 was Suratte or Soeratte and its main factory was in Surat city. The Dutch East India Company office at Ahmedabad was founded in 1617 and eventually abandoned in 1744. During this period, four Dutch tombs were built near Kankaria Lake.

There are four Dutch tombs in all. Three of them are in a fusion of European and Mughal or Indo-Islamic style with domed cupolas supported by attractive columns. The fourth is pyramidal.