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Morro Castle, Cuba

A picturesque fortress in Cuba is the Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro (or Morro Castle) which is 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.

Admirably the house is placed perched on the promontory on the opposite side of the harbour from Old Havana it can be viewed from miles around as it dominates the port entrance.

The house was Built initially in 1589 in response to raids on Havana harbour el Morro protected the mouth of the harbour 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 Cabana was built to prevent this happening again.

The gates' of the house i.e the inner side of them 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 castle's View from El Morro from Forts and Castles of the Caribbean Islands by Bob FindlayThe cannons around the fort are now badly rusted but the walls are in great shape. The fort is a lot bigger than it seems from the outside and has central barracks up to four storeys high.

The castle have a small turret at the end of the wall is now crumbling away but it is possible to look over to the sea crashing onto the rocks below and take in the dimensions of the huge dry moat. It's 20 meters deep.

The fort also has a small and not very interesting underwater archaeology exhibition. Noteworthy are the old latrines and their chute into the sea as are the two sets of doors and the drawbridge mechanism.