Castillo del Morro is located 8 km south of the city, at the entrance of the Bahía de Santiago de Cuba (Bay of Santiago de Cuba).

daily 09:30 - 18:30

Castillo del Morro is among the picturesque places of Santiago de Cuba. Its exceptional location at the entrance of the Bay of Santiago de Cuba and its adaptation to the topography of the area place the castle in a widely recognized group of three of those fortresses, designed by the famous architects, father and son Bautista, and Juan Bautista Antonelli; the others are the Castillo de los Tres Reyes in Havana and the Castillo de San Sebastián in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

History

With the growth of the maritime transport in the Caribbean, the aggressive political and commercial rivalry between Spain and England increased in the 17th century, threatening the Spanish colonies, so that the Spanish that were losing the naval supremacy day by day, came to the decision to fortify their settlements. Until that time the defense system of Santiago de Cuba that would protect the town and its inhabitants against the attacks of the corsairs and the pirates, consisted of Fort of Hernando de Soto (El Fuerte de Hernando de Soto) that was in the area where the Balcón de Velázquez is located today. Consequently, Castillo de El Morro was built on the high cliffs on the promontory that narrows the entrance of the Bay of Santiago de Cuba. The chosen place, where the Bay of Santiago de Cuba opens to the Caribbean Sea by a narrow channel, was the most favorable point to build a castle to protect the city from the British invasion. It would also function to ward off the pirates.

The construction of the stone fortress, integrated with the existing ravelin, begun under the direction of the famous Italian military engineer and architect Juan Bautista Antonelli in the time of the Governor Pedro de la Roca y Borja in 1633. Therefore, the castle was given the name El Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca, but the people of Santiago de Cuba espoused the name Castillo del Morro rather than its official name, as it was more meaningful and easier to call any by its localization (morro means nose in Spanish; synonymous promontory). The construction of the castle in its primitive form finished in 1638.

The castle was destructed after an attack of the British navy in 1662. It was rebuilt in 1663 and subsequently expanded in 1669. In the short period of the relative tranquility between the Spanish and the British forces, the castle suffered severe damages by the consecutive earthquakes (1675-1679), but it was repaired and consolidated in each time. In addition to the attacks of the British navy in 1738 and in 1740, the castle was damaged by the earthquakes in 1757 and in 1766, but the Spanish took the advantage of the opportunity to incorporate the most recent developments in military architecture into the rebuilding process of the castle, like some other fortresses in Cuba (Jagua, La Cabaña, Atares and El Principe). El Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca was the fundamental link of the defensive system of the coast during the colonial time, not only against the British navy, but also against the corsairs and the pirates that plunder the Caribbean in the 17th and the 18th centuries. However, despite its indomitable appearance, in 1662 the English pirate Christopher Myngs could capture the castle after discovering, to his surprise, that it had been left unguarded. He took the control of Santiago for 2 weeks. During this period, a part of the castle was destroyed, and the artillery was captured. After he left the castle, the Spanish government raised the garrison to 300 soldiers.

During the War of Independence (1895-1898) the fortress was destined to military prison. Many Cuban patriots were imprisoned in the cells of the castle, such as the major generals of the Liberation Army like Bartolomé Masó, Flor Crombet and Pedro Agustín Pérez; José Ramón Leocadio Bonachea (general of the Liberation Army), and the intellectuals such as Emilio Bacardí Moreau (mayor of Santiago de Cuba) and Dominga Moncada (mother of the General Guillermón Moncada).

On 3 July 1898 the fortress witnessed the fight between the Spanish and the US navies (Battle of Santiago de Cuba). The battle begun in front of the castle, in an area that extended to the Turquino peak. When the fight ended in favor of the US navy, the fortress was occupied by the soldiers of the US army.