Morro Castle (fortress)

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View of Havana from El Morro Castle

Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro (or Morro Castle) 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 is not to be confused with other structures with similar names in Santiago de Cuba and 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.

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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 is a lot bigger than it seems from the outside and has central barracks up to four stories high.

There is a plaque from the ambassador of the United Kingdom to commemorate the 1762 siege in addition to a small memorial between two strong powder rooms at the North East Bastion.

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.

On the other side of the moat you can see more modern guns and batteries, La Bateria de Velasco, plus a sweeping view down to Cojimar.

The current harbor master's office is still housed in the fortress.

Also in the fort is a small underwater archeology exhibition. Noteworthy are the old latrines and their chute into the sea as are the two sets of doors and the drawbridge mechanism.