El Morro or Port San Juan Light

El Morro or Port San Juan Light
Location San Juan, Puerto Rico
Coordinates
Year first lit 1908 (rebuilt tower by the U.S Coast Guard )
Automated 1962
Foundation Fort
Construction Brick/Masonry (1908 tower)
Tower shape Square tower on castle
Markings / pattern Gray "Moorish revival"
Original lens Third order, Fresnel 1908
ARLHS number PUR-005
Faro de Morro
Governing body: National Park Service
MPS: Lighthouse System of Puerto Rico TR
NRHP Reference#: 81000693 [1]

El Morro or Port San Juan Light, also known as Faro de Morro or Faro del Castillo del Morro or Puerto San Juan Light, is a lighthouse atop the walls of Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan. It's the first lighthouse built in Puerto Rico.[2]

The first Port San Juan Lighthouse was built in 1846 and exhibited a light using five parabolic reflectors.[2] In 1876, a new octagonal iron tower was constructed atop the walls of the fort .[1] The tower was hit by U.S. artillery fire in the Puerto Rican Campaign of the Spanish-American War. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1908 as an Moorish Revival style "square tower on castle".[3] There is no public admission into the tower, but El Morro Fort, along with Castillo de San Cristobal and much of the city walls as part of the San Juan National Historic Site is open to the public.

See also

References