Bastion Bungalow was built by the Dutch in 1667 — five years after they captured Fort Immanuel from the Portuguese. It represents a crucial landmark with regard to Kochi’s colonial and maritime history. As the seat of all three imperial powers who ruled over the island town, the structure weathered many storms until it was declared a protected monument by the State Archaeology Department in the 1990s. Even so, the colossal bungalow which after independence functioned as the official residence of the sub-collector of Fort Kochi, continued to witness a chequered history in recent times.

The long pending plan to convert Bastion Bungalow into a museum was halted in the tracks after Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, which undertook the beautification of the garden surrounding the structure in 2016, faced significant backlash for its unscientific approach. With the shift in the government, the project was entrusted to Keralam Museum with a considerable re-casting of the original plan and intention to present a truly contemporary design and curation.

The freshly renovated museum set up at the cost of `3.58 crore and christened as the ‘district heritage museum’ lends a distinct insight to Kochi’s prominence as mercantile trading centre from ancient to the modern period.