Fort of Santa Cruz

Fort of Santa Cruz (Portuguese: Forte de Santa Cruz da Horta or Castelo da Santa Cruz), is a 16th-century fortification located in the civil parish of Angústias, municipality of Horta, on the island of Faial in the Portuguese Azores. Occasionally referred to as the Castelo de Santa Cruz by locals, it is situated in the historic centre of the city, on the edge of Horta Bay. It was constructed to work in conjunction with the Fort of Bom Jesus (Portuguese: Forte do Bom Jesus) at the mouth of the Ribeira da Conceição and Fort of Greta (Portuguese: Forte da Greta) along the coast of the extinct spatter cone Monte da Guia, to defend the entrance to the harbour and southern access to the Bay.

Text adapted from “Fort of Santa Cruz (Horta)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fort of Santa Cruz ranks #6,455 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #134 of the 205 mapped in Portugal. Founded 1567, it is older than 37% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. See how Portugal compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗