One of the three fortresses of Havana, interesting to tourists, and the oldest of them is La Fuerza. It is located just a couple of steps from the Plaza de Armas and the center of the capital. Established in 1558, this fortress is considered one of the two oldest fortifications in the city harbor on both American continents. It is even surprising that at the same time it was La Fuersa that was best preserved from all the port forts of Havana. Once La Fuersa served as protection against pirate raids from the sea, and today the Maritime Museum is opened in the fortress.
Havana from the very beginning was erected as a well fortified and impregnable city .Its beautiful and convenient bay was perfectly suited as a trans-shipment base for Spanish ships, which by royal will were sent at that time to the most distant voyages in search of new potentially lucrative colonies .America turned out to be a rich land, and there were always a lot of hunters to profit by this wealth, attacking ships and plundering the city .Havana needed to be protected, and the Spaniards were constantly building and strengthening the port fortifications .In the case of La Fuersa, this went on for more than two centuries, but the result was apparently worth it .
The first version of the fortress was erected over 19 years and was a square of large sandstone blocks with a moat around the perimeter and corner towers. The fortress was built mainly by slaves and captured Frenchmen. Ten-meter walls with narrow loopholes, walls 4 m thick, initially - no stairs, so as not to give the assailants a single chance (the garrison ascended the fortress by rope ladders). The Spanish governors of the island were located in a one-story building around the fortress.
In the 17th century, over one of the corner bastions, the tower was built on two floors with a weather vane in the form of a woman - La Giraldilia .There is a beautiful legend associated with the figure: it is said to be the faithful wife of the Governor de Soto, who ran the city for several years while her husband was in North America .This is the only case when the city was administered by a woman .After La Fuersa was captured by the British in the 18th century, the figure disappeared, but later "surfaced" and was placed in the city museum .For installation in the same place, the Galvanians made a new .Now this symbol of Havana can be seen not only on the tower of La Fuersa, but also on the label "Havana-Club" .
Up to 1899 g .The National Archives were located in the fortress, and since 1938 .and before the revolution - National Library .In 1977, ., when the fort was 400 years old, the Museum of Modern Art opened here .The Museum of Cuban Ceramics has been working here since 1990 ., and in 2010 .in the fortress the Maritime Museum was opened .Here you can see an excellent collection of evidence of the glorious maritime past of the island, starting from pre-Columbian times, including an introduction to the history of the Royal Havana shipyards, where more than two hundred ships of the Spanish fleet were lined up .The museum exhibited, in particular, a four-meter copy of the ship "Santism Trinidad", the largest ship of the 18th century .It has interactive touchscreens, and visitors can descend into the hold to see the real navigation instruments of those times and a collection of findings raised from the seabed .
As part of Old Havana in 1982, the fortress was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
| Entrance to La Fuersa |
| Bell Tower, La Fuersa |
| Gun, La Fuersa |
| Exhibits, La Fuersa |