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View of Havana from El Morro Castle

Morro Castle Spanish: Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro) is a picturesque fortress guarding the entrance to Havana bay in Havana, Cuba. Juan Bautista Antonelli, an Italian engineer, was commissioned to design the structure. When it was built in 1589, Cuba was under the control of Spain. The castle, named after the biblical Magi, was later captured by the British in 1762.

Morro Castle in Havana shares the name with other structures in Santiago de Cuba and Fort San Felipe del Morro in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Perched on the promontory on the opposite side of the harbor from Old Havana it can be viewed from miles around as it dominates the port entrance.

Built initially in 1589 in response to raids on Havana harbor el Morro protected the mouth of the harbor with a chain being strung out across the to the fort at La Punta. It first saw action in 1762 when Lord Albemarle landed in Cojimar and attacked the fort from its rear. It fell because the English could command the high ground so when they had handed the island back to the Spanish the fort at La Cabaña was built to prevent this happening again.

Inside the gates is an exhibition on the lighthouses of Cuba – El Morro once housed a school for lighthouse keepers. There was actually a watchtower here until the English blew it up in their successful siege in 1762. The lighthouse was added in 1845.

The cannons around the fort are now badly rusted but the walls are in great shape. The fort has central barracks up to four stories high. A small underwater archeology exhibition is also located here. Noteworthy are the old latrines and their chute into the sea as are the two sets of doors and the drawbridge mechanism. The current harbor master's office is still housed in the fortress. A plaque dedicated by the ambassador of the United Kingdom commemorates the 1762 siege and a small memorial is located between two strong powder rooms in the North East Bastion.

A small turret at the end of the wall offers views of the sea crashing onto the rocks 20 meters below and take in the dimensions of the huge dry moat. The opposite side of the moat holds more modern guns and batteries, La Bateria de Velasco, and offers a sweeping view down to Cojimar.

• Bob Findlay. The Forts and Castles of the Caribbean Islands

Cuba Portal

• Forts and Castles of the Caribbean Islands

El Morro

El Morro Castle seen from Havana.

Bridge pass between Morro and La Cabaña.

Morro captured from bottom

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