Cerro Fortress

The Fortaleza del Cerro, also known as Fortaleza General Artigas, is a fortress situated in Montevideo, Uruguay overlooking the Bay of Montevideo. It belongs to the barrio of Casabó, at the west of Villa del Cerro. It holds a dominant position on the highest hill of the department of Montevideo (popularly known as Cerro de Montevideo) with an altitude of 134 meters above sea level, on the opposite side of the bay. Its function was to defend the population of Montevideo and its port, on the río de la Plata. Governor Francisco Javier de Elío ordered construction in 1809 and it was completed in 1839; this was the last Spanish fort built in Uruguay. It has housed the Military Museum since 1916.

Text adapted from “Fortaleza del Cerro” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cerro Fortress ranks #2,210 of 5,479 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 2 mapped in Uruguay. Founded 1809, it is older than 14% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 336 atlas entries founded in the 19th century. See how Uruguay compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗