Fortress of San Pedro de la Roca (Fortress of Castillo del Moro)
Cuba, Santiago de Cuba

Fortress of San Pedro de la Roca (Fortress of Castillo del Moro) is located on the southeast coast of Cuba, in the city of Santiago de Cuba. In the XVII century, the city was repeatedly attacked by English, French and Antillean filibusters who robbed citizens, seized merchant ships and weapons. In 1638, in order to protect the bay and the city of Santiago de Cuba from attacks by Caribbean pirates, the governor of the city of Pedro de la Roca i Borja initiated the construction of a powerful defensive structure - the fortress of San Pedro de la Roca. The author of the project was the Italian military engineer Giovanni Battista Antonelli, the construction of the fortress was carried out from 1638 to 1700, Antonelli personally supervised the work until 1645. Castillo del Moro Fortress is located on the steep rocky slope of El Moro, at an altitude of 70 meters above sea level. The fortress consists of several terraces located one above the other and connected by stairs and a complex system of transitions. At the lower level were a platform for guns, a powder cellar, a command post and a guard post. At the next level (the platform of the Holy Gifts) were firing points, a warehouse for storing gunpowder and living quarters for the garrison of the fortress. At the highest level is the platform of the Holy Trinity with fire batteries, bastions, watch towers and defensive ramparts. In the 19th century, the Semaphore Tower, the Santo Cristo Chapel, the lighthouse and the bastions of Scopa Alta and Vigia were built in the fortress. During its existence, the fortress of San Pedro de la Roca has repeatedly repelled the attacks of pirates, for example, in 1678 the fortress withstood the attack of the French squadron, and in 1680 - the attack of 800 Antillean pirates led by the filibuster Francesma. In the first half of the 18th century, with the end of the “golden age of piracy,” the threat of pirate attacks on Santiago de Cuba came to naught, and the Castillo del Moro fortress was converted into a prison (there were many Cuban independence fighters among its prisoners). The last time the fortress was attacked in 1898, during the Spanish-American war, when the US fleet attacked the city. Since that time, the Castillo del Moro fortress has been desolate, its reconstruction was carried out in the 60s of the XX century in accordance with the points of the Venice Charter of 1964 on the preservation and restoration of historical monuments. Since 1978, a museum has been opened in the fortress, the exposition of which acquaints with the history of piracy in the Caribbean region, the history of the Castillo del Moro fortress (stages of construction, military defensive and prison periods), a separate exhibition is dedicated to the naval battle of the American and Spanish squadrons outside the city of Santiago de Cuba in 1898. In 1997, the fortress of San Pedro de la Roca was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the best-preserved example of Spanish colonial military architecture.

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