Castillo de la Real Fuerza - La Habana, Cuba - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

The Castillo de la Real Fuerza (English: Castle of the Royal Force) is a star 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 against attack by pirates, it suffered from a poor strategic position, being too far inside the bay. 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".

In 1977, on the 400th anniversary of completion, the building was inaugurated as a museum and used to display exhibitions of Cuban contemporary and international art. In 1990, it became the National Museum of Cuban Ceramics.

In 2010, Castillo de la Real Fuerza reopened as Cuba’s premier maritime museum. The museum contains excellent exhibits of Cuba’s maritime past from pre-Columbian days through to the 18th century with the Royal Shipyard of Havana, one of the largest in the world, which built nearly 200 ships for the Spanish Crown. The museum features a huge four-metre model of the Santisima Trinidad located on the main floor with a large interactive touch screen in Spanish, French, and English. The exhibit describes life aboard an 18th-century ship-of-the-line.

Downstairs you will find ancient navigational instruments, underwater archaeological artifacts, and gold and silver from the colonial era. Also note the original weathervane, La Giraldilla, while her replica moves in the breeze on the top of the fortress tower, which also commands a fantastic view of the city. The second level of the museum hosts many other historic and contemporary models of ships with links to Cuba and is also a good location for viewing the harbour and city skyline.

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