According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), travel promotes peace as opposed to war, through the intrinsic development of understanding and tolerance it implies. This concept is based on the fact that travelers, as a rule, acquire knowledge of the history and traditions of other peoples. In the case of Cuba, in particular Havana, tourists are drawn to the city’s castles and fortresses, built in another era.
These are sites which at one time guaranteed colonial domination, but have now become part of the Cuban capital’s postcard imagery.
Havana’s castles, built to foil pirates and protect the Spanish colony, have stood the test of time practically intact, serving as a visible historical memory, and can be easily visited. The most distinctive of these is the Morro, which has greeted those who arrived by sea for centuries, and now welcomes tourists who consider it a must-see on even the shortest visits to the city, founded November 16, 1519.
THE MORRO
Always on guard, the Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes de El Morro, is perched on a rock cliff at the entrance to Havana Bay. The fortress and working lighthouse guide ships and are visited by tourists who arrive from the city, either via a tunnel under the channel or aboard a ferry.
The Morro is perched on a rock cliff at the entrance to Havana Bay, greeting all those who arrive by sea. Foto: AFP.
Long before becoming a tourist attraction, the fortress was conceived by the Spanish crown as part of its plans to defend the city against pirates, during the 16th and 17th centuries. Construction of the fortress continued for some 40 years, 1589-1630, under the direction of military engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli, who was additionally responsible for many other works in Havana.
The Morro, as it is known, is an irregular polygon-shaped bastion, rising 40 meters above sea level, with thick walls, bulwarks and defensive extensions.
In 1762, it was captured by the English fleet, allowing that country to take and hold Havana for some 11 months, through July 6, 1763.
Current day visitors are most fascinated by the fortress’s 10-meter lighthouse, which has undergone several changes over the years. The light was originally fueled by wood, then adapted in 1819 to oil, in 1928 to acetylene, and finally in 1945 to electricity.
THE FORT
The Castillo de la Real Fuerza, protecting the entrance to the bay on the opposite side of the channel, where the central part of the city is located, is Havana’s most ancient fort. This is the perfect stop for a marvelous afternoon or sunset, to visit the upstairs café or enjoy an exhibit inside.
Its construction was also undertaken as a result of increasing attacks by pirates and corsairs, which obliged the king of Spain, Phillip II, to order Havana’s governor at the time, Don Hernando de Soto, to build the fortress.
Work began in 1558 and ended 20 years later, in 1578. Incidentally, the early stages of construction were overseen by the capital’s only female governor, Doña Isabel de Bobadilla, the wife of De Soto, who died in 1542, on the banks of the Mississippi River, during the conquest of Florida. She waited faithfully for the return of her beloved and engaged architect Mateo de Aceituno to design and supervise the construction. The castle was absolutely secure and several governors chose it as their residence Bobadilla became a legendary figure and a small bronze statue was created in her honor, placed as a weathervane on the cupola of the fortress, looking out toward the sea, metaphorically awaiting her husband’s return. The statue, LaGiraldilla, remains a symbol of the city.
LA PUNTA
The Punta fortress was erected on a small point, directly on the sea. Under construction for 10 years, the simple fort - a 100 by 58 meter quadrilateral - was finished in 1600, well before the Morro. Historians recall that the fort was severely damaged during the English occupation of Havana. It was repaired, and in 1868, during the 10 Years War of independence, four esplanades with cannons were added.
SAN CARLOS DE LA CABAÑA
In addition to housing the Arms Museum and the building where Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara’s headquarters was located during the early days of the Revolution, the San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress is the city’s largest, located in the city’s Morro-Cabaña Historical-Military Park.
The San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress was the largest military installation
built by the Spanish in its American colonies, housing at one time
245 pieces of artillery.
This fortress, occupying a privileged position on a hill overlooking the city, was also constructed under the direction of Juan María Antonelli and was considered, at the time, as key to the defense of Havana. While supervising work on the Morro, Antonelli himself is said to have looked over toward the prominent hill and commented that whoever controlled it would control Havana, just as the English later did.
Construction on the Cabaña Fortress began in 1763, immediately after the withdrawal of the English, on orders from Carlos III and ended a year later. The plans were drawn up by a Frenchman named De Valliére and his compatriot Ricaud de Tirgole was responsible for the design. The Fortress includes a 700 meter long plaza, within a polygon surrounded by walls measuring a total of 450 meters, with bastions, terraces, firing slits and an outer curtain wall. In 1859, 1,300 soldiers were garrisoned there, equipped with 120 cannons and bronze shells. Within its inner courtyards, Cuban patriots faced firing squads, including the poet Juan Clemente Zenea, while the fortress also served as the Rebel Army’s command post after 1959, then as the site of traitors’ trials, and finally as a tourist destination.
Every night precisely at 9:00 pm, a colonial cannon is fired by cadets dressed in uniforms from that era, allowing everyone in Havana to check their clocks. The tradition began when the cannon shot served as an order to close the city’s gates, to protect those safely inside from raiders and pirates.
