Brief Description
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, a series of defensive
structures was built at this strategic point in the Caribbean Sea to
protect the city and the Bay of San Juan. They represent a fine display
of European military architecture adapted to harbour sites on the
American continent.
Statement of Significance
The main elements of the massive fortification of San Juan are
La Fortaleza, the three forts of San Felipe del Morro, San Cristóbal and
San Juan de la Cruz (El Cañuelo), and a large portion of the City Wall,
built between the 16th and 19th centuries to protect the city and the
Bay of San Juan. They are characteristic examples of the historic
methods of construction used in military architecture over this period,
which adapted European designs and techniques to the special conditions
of the Caribbean port cities. La Fortaleza (founded in the early 16th
century and considerably remodelled in later centuries) reflects
developments in military architecture during its service over the
centuries as a fortress, an arsenal, a prison, and residence of the
Governor-General and today the Governor of Puerto Rico.
Criterion (vi) La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site
outstandingly illustrate the adaptation to the Caribbean context of
European developments in military architecture from the 16th to 20th
centuries. They represent the continuity of more than four centuries of
architectural, engineering, military, and political history.
Long Description
The entire historic site of San Juan with its different
monumental components maintains, at the present, a balance between
constructed and non-constructed zones. The Fortaleza is tangibly
associated with the history of the New World and its explorers and
colonists.
For the explorers and the colonists of the New World who came from
the east, Puerto Rico was an obligatory stopping-place in the Caribbean.
From this evolved its primordial strategic role at the beginning of the
Spanish colonization. The island was for centuries a stake disputed by
the Spanish, French, English and Dutch. The fortifications of the bay of
San Juan, the magnificent port to which Puerto Rico owes its name, bear
witness to its long military history.
San Juan had the first municipal government in the New World outside
Santo Domingo, as well as the first military presidios in Spanish
America. By the 19th century, the old city had become a charming
residential and commercial district. The city itself, with its
institutional buildings, museums, houses, churches, plazas and
commercial buildings, is part of the San Juan Historic Zone which is
administered by municipal, State and Federal agencies.
La Fortaleza is one among several, of the fortresses which protect
it. Over the centuries, San Juan in fact protected Spain's empire
against Carib Indians, pirates and the warships of other countries. This
vast, coherent defensive system with ramparts, fortlets and fortresses,
attesting formerly to its effectiveness and today to its historic
significance. The principal components of this defensive system are,
starting in the south:
- La Fortaleza, founded in 1530-40, enlarged at various periods, and heavily modified after 1846, is an exemplary monument of Hispano-American colonial architecture. It served at once as an arsenal, prison, and residence for the Governor-General of the island;
- El Morro, built to protect San Juan Bay, is situated on a rocky peak of land on the western extremity of the island. The fort is a triangular bastion perfectly conceived according to the strategy of the second half of the 18th century, when it was entirely remodelled. It eventually developed into a masterpiece of military engineering with stout walls, carefully planned steps and ramps for moving men and artillery. By the end of the 18th century, more than 400 cannon defended the fort, making it almost impregnable.
- San Cristóbal, with its dependencies, is another accomplished example of the military architecture of the second half of the 18th century.
- San Juan National Historic Site includes forts, bastions, powder houses, wall and El Cañuelo Fort, also called San Juan de la Cruz - defensive fortifications that once surrounded the old colonial portion of San Juan, Puerto Rico. El Cañuelo Fort is located at the Isla de Cabras at the western end of the entrance to San Juan Bay.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
