Havana 001: El Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force)
El Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force) is a fortress in Old Havana belonging to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Havana and its fortifications (1982). It is thought to be the oldest stone fortress in the Americas. While it was initially built in 1577 to defend the city against pirates it was ineffective due to its poor strategic position. It was then quickly transformed into the residence of the Governor of Havana. The watchtower with the weather vane was added in 1634. The weather vane figure is known as La Giraldilla and became the symbol of Havana (it is also figured in the Havana Club rum label). The figure was made after Isabel del Bobadilla who waited for her husband Hernando del Soto to return to Havana in a ship. She waited for hours at a time for many years in the tower (atalaya) upon which the weather vane rests. It is said that she died of love. Her husband unbeknown to her, had died looking for the Fountain of Youth near Mississippi.
In 2010, the fortress reopened as the site of Cuba’s premier maritime museum. The main attraction of the museum is without doubts the impressive four metre model of the Santisima Trinidad. The original ship was launched in 1769 and was the largest ship in the world in the 18th Century, with 140 canons on four gun decks. She was one of four Cuban-built ships at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The museum also includes other historic and contemporary models of ships with links to Cuba, great amounts of gold and silver found in sunken ships and is a good location for viewing the harbour and city skyline.
