Fending off Pirates
As part of our Old Havana grand opening special, we're celebrating Cuban history.
One of the most famous symbols of Havana is the centuries-old "Moro Castle," guarding the entrance to the harbor. In his new book, Havana: Autobiography of a City, journalist Alfredo Jose Estrada writes about the circumstances that led to the construction of the great fortress.
After suffering attacks at the hands of pirates, privateers and French Corsairs in the 1500's, Spanish settlers on the island of Cuba found themselves vulnerable to invasion. According to Estrada, when associates of pirate Francois Le Clerc (also known as Peg Leg) sacked and burned Havana to the ground in 1555, a Spanish royal decree laid the foundation for a new defensive strategy.
The Real Fuerza fortress was the first major Spanish attempt to guard Havana harbor. While it seems to have deterred Sir Francis Drake and his fearsome armada of twenty-two ships in 1586, the Spaniards still feared future attacks.
To fortify the Real Fuerza, Estrada writes, King Philip II ordered the construction of a new defensive structure in 1588. El Moro, a state-of-the-art fortress, would protect Havana for centuries.
"Designed by the celebrated Italian military architect, Giovanni Baptista Antonelli, [El Moro's] polygonal walls contain two landward bastions with a deep moat. The battery guarding the channel is known as Los Doce Apostoles (The 12 Apostles)."
Estrada says to this day, El Moro remains the most visible symbol of Havana. "It is to the city what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, or the Coliseum is to Rome, framed in countless postcards sent back to Barcelona, Chicago or Kiev."