San Felipe del Morro Fortress
Coordinates: 18 ° 28 ′ 16 ″ N , 66 ° 7 ′ 28 ″ W.
The fortress San Felipe del Morro - Spanish El Castillo San Felipe del Morro or El Morro for short - dates back to the 16th century and is located in the northwest of San Juan , the capital of the island of Puerto Rico , guarding the port entrance. The fortress was named in honor of the Spanish King Philip II of Spain . In 1983 El Morro was declared a World Heritage Site by the UN . The building, which is part of the San Juan National Historic Site , is visited by more than 2 million visitors annually, making it one of the most visited attractions in Puerto Rico.
Architecture and history
The island of Puerto Rico was discovered by Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage. In 1508 Juan Ponce de León colonized the island and San Juan was founded. In 1539 the settlers began to fortify the port. The design of the fortress corresponds to that of other Spanish fortresses from this period.
The first construction phase was completed in 1589, but parts were repeatedly reinforced or complexes added over the next 248 years. Its five-meter-thick walls rise 42 meters above the city.
In 1595 the fortress was able to repel an attack by Francis Drake . A cannonball pierced the chamber on Drake's flagship. George Clifford , the Duke of Cumberland , was more successful three years later and captured the fortress. However, his men were so weakened by the dysentery that they had to withdraw again after six weeks. In 1625 the Dutch under Boudewijn Hendricksz attacked the fortress from the land side and badly damaged it, but the fortress held out. The last shelling occurred during the Spanish-American War . Ships of the United States Navy destroyed the lighthouse built in 1843 . The current one was built in 1908. The Treaty of Paris ended that war and Puerto Rico fell to the United States and the fort became a US military post.
During the Second World War , a watchtower was built in the middle of the fort, which is the highest point (55 m) of the structure.
In 1961 the military withdrew and the fort was handed over to the US National Park Service .
Others
Steven Spielberg served El Morro as the setting for the film Amistad - The Slave Ship . He filmed the scenes inside the slave fortress here. The fortress can also be seen briefly in the film Assassins: The Killer .
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- ↑ http://german.imdb.com/title/tt0118607/locations
- ↑ http://german.imdb.com/title/tt0112401/locations
