Castillo San Sebastián de la Cruz

The Castillo San Sebastián de la Cruz, or Fort of San Sebastián de la Cruz, is a colonial fortification located in the town of Corral, in the Los Ríos Region, Chile. Its construction began in 1645 on the initiative of the viceroy of Peru, Antonio de Toledo y Leiva, Marquis of Mancera, as part of the system of forts of Valdivia, raised by the Spanish Empire to control access to the Valdivia river and to defend one of the most important strategic points of the South Pacific. During the 17th and 18th centuries and the beginning of the 19th it took part in the defence of the bay of Corral. After the Capture of Valdivia in 1820 it lost its military function, although it retained its historical and architectural value. Today it is a Historical Monument of Chile.

Machine-translated from “Castillo de San Sebastián de la Cruz” on the Spanish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castillo San Sebastián de la Cruz ranks #7,895 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #13 of the 16 mapped in Chile. Founded 1645, it is older than 28% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 626 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Chile compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in Spanish) ↗