Cuba · 16th century
The Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force) is a bastion fort on the western side of the harbour in Havana, Cuba, set back from the entrance, and bordering the Plaza de Armas. Originally built to defend Havana against attack by pirates, it was not strategically located, being too far inside the bay, and instead was adopted as the residence of the Governor of Havana. The fort is considered to be the oldest stone fort in the Americas, and was listed in 1982 as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of "Old Havana and its Fortifications".
Text adapted from “Castillo de la Real Fuerza” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castillo de la Real Fuerza ranks #1,187 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #2 of the 12 mapped in Cuba. Founded 1558, it is older than 36% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 891 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,069 times in the last 60 days, more than 78% of the atlas. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Havana, 1 km away. See how Cuba compares in the castle statistics.
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