Puerto Rico · 16th century
Castillo San Felipe del Morro (English: Promontory Castle of Saint Philip), most commonly known as El Morro (The Promontory), is a large fortress and citadel in the Old San Juan historic quarter of San Juan, the capital city and municipality of Puerto Rico. Commissioned by King Charles I of Spain in 1539, it was first built as a fortified tower in honor of King Philip II, who oversaw its expansion into a hornwork bastion fort by 1595. Over the next 200 years, especially in the reign of King Charles III, El Morro continued to be developed to reach its current form in 1787. Rising 43 metres (140 ft) from the Atlantic shoreline with 5.5 to 7.6 metres (18 to 25 ft) thick walls, the six-leveled edifice stands on a steep, rocky headland promontory on San Juan Islet guarding the entry to San Juan Bay, the harbor of Old San Juan.
El Morro, alongside La Fortaleza, San Cristóbal, El Cañuelo, and other forts part of the Walls of Old San Juan, protected strategically and militarily important Puerto Rico, or La Llave de las Indias (The Key to the Indies), from invasion by competing world powers during the Age of Discovery and Sail. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.
Text adapted from “Castillo San Felipe del Morro” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro ranks #784 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 4 mapped in Puerto Rico. Founded 1539, it is older than 40% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 891 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 13,158 times in the last 60 days, more than 95% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Puerto Rico compares in the castle statistics.
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