Castillo de Cojímar

The Castillo de Cojímar is a military fortress of the colonial period, built in the 17th century. It is located in Cojímar, a former coastal settlement near Havana which, with the growth of the city over the centuries, became just another district of the city.

It was built in the 1640s, financed by the economic contribution of the settlement's inhabitants, since the colonial government lacked funds. It was inaugurated on 15 July 1649.

It cost 20,000 ducats and its architect was Juan Bautista Antonelli, son of Bautista Antonelli, architect of the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro.

Part of the city's defensive system was to protect the mouth of the Cojímar river and to prevent ships hostile to the Spanish Crown from taking on fresh water in that locality.

In 1762, during the Capture of Havana by the English and in the context of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the tower was attacked by the English invaders.

From this fortification the criollo soldier Pepe Antonio resisted at the head of his group of criollo and black militiamen. However, the stiff resistance could not prevent the fall of the city into English hands.

It suffered major damage, as the artillery of the enemy ships destroyed most of it. It was rebuilt in 1763, after the British withdrawal. The tower we see today was built after the city returned to Spanish hands.

When in 1982 UNESCO declared Havana and its system of fortifications a World Heritage Site, this tower became part of the protected buildings.

Machine-translated from “Torreón de Cojímar” on the Spanish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castillo de Cojímar ranks #7,993 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #12 of the 12 mapped in Cuba. Founded c. 1650, it is older than 26% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 626 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Havana, 7 km away. See how Cuba compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in Spanish) ↗