El Morro and La Punta, at cross fire

By: Josefina Pichardo
Photos: Rolando Pujol

Destined to cross fire of their respective artilleries in order to close the defense of the port channel at both sides of Havana Bay entrance, the castles known as Tres Reyes del Morro (1589-1630) and San Salvador de la Punta (1590-1630) were built by royal order of Philip II, then King of Spain under care of the Italian military engineer Bautista Antonelli.

Located in the eastern bank of the bay, El Morro with the most emblematic image of Havana is shaped like an irregular polygon as it follows the contours of the rocks, rigorously fitted to the terrain, a very favorable condition for its defense. It comprises three bulwarks joined by curtains and casemated quarters, two water reservoirs, a church, dwellings for officers and chaplain, some cannons looking to the sea or the port, the Los Doce Apóstoles and La Pastora batteries; soldier quarters, vaults and dungeons.

Used as international maritime lighthouse since 1764, - its tower stands 30 meters high and 5 wide, signaling every 15 seconds -, it has electricity since 1940. With the coming of the XX century and obsolete as defensive bastion, El Morro castle assumed other tasks and is actually a museum and a recreation and exhibition center.

Surrounded by a shallow ditch excavated in the rocks, the San Salvador de la Punta castle, located in the intersection of Avenida del Puerto avenue and Paseo del Prado promenade, is a trapeze shaped fortress with an arms square as center and bulwarks in its four corners - these bulwarks are typical of renaissance fortresses, enabling cross fire.

Restored by the City Historian Office after being flooded during Wilma hurricane, it is presently transformed into a museum with no pretension of big exhibits, to be visited mostly on account of its architectural value representing an era of military architecture.

Both fortresses made up Havana’s first defensive system, illustrating the city coat of arms, its national monuments and embodying the fortifications’ system that, together with Old Havana, was proclaimed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. To date, they represent main cultural tourism sites.