The castle of Santo Antón, is a castle built in the 16th century that was part, along with the castle of Santa Cruz (in Liáns) and the castle of San Diego (in Oza, now gone), of a strategic network of castles and batteries. for the defense of the city of A Coruña. It was declared a Historic Artistic Monument in 1949 and since 1994 has been considered a Site of Cultural Interest with the category of monument. Since its inauguration in 1968, it has housed the Archaeological and Historical Museum of A Coruña
In the place that today occupies the castle, and that was an islet near the port of A Coruña, there was at the end of the Middle Ages a chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony and in it the sailors were confined with the evil known as Saint Anthony's fire (ergotism), being also later used as a lazaretto.
In the visit to A Coruña of Charles V on April 14, 1520, the City Council made him aware of the need to have a good defense to deal with the attacks of English ships and in order to obtain permission to build a House of Recruitment , a request that had been made by the Galician nobility and clergy in that same year, since from the year 1503 the commerce with America was centralized in the House of Hiring of Seville.
With the return of the expedition of Fernão de Magalhães and Juan Sebastián Elcano in September 1522, the Council of A Coruña sent a memorial to Emperor Carlos V, requesting that its port be the commercial base of the new open route.
Finally the emperor granted the House of Hiring to the city on December 22, 1522, facilitating trade with northern Europe.
Construction
In 1528 the island of Santo Antón was chosen as the site for the construction of a fortress.
In that year letters and royal provisions were received in A Coruña, in which the emperor ordered a fortification to be erected.
The engineer Fratín, inspector of fortifications of Philip II, endorsed the place in 1581 and the king authorized its construction, which was carried out by the professor of the Royal Academy of Mathematics, the lieutenant engineer Pedro Rodríguez Muñiz, who was in Galicia to the service of the commander in chief Marquess of Cerralbo.
The work began in the year 1587, as it indicates an inscription located next to the shield of the Marquess of Cerralbo of the cover of the strength.
Cistern inside.
He designed an Italian model adapted to an island. Some documents speak of the use for the construction of perpiaños of the damaged outer stairs of the Tower of Hercules.The stone of the old city wall was also used for its construction.
In 1590 King Philip II ordered his architect Tiburcio Spinochio to continue and complete the castle works that had been interrupted by the attack of Francis Drake. Thus the works were completed in the same year, with the construction of accommodation for the troops, the cistern and the tower that defends the gate.
Its construction lasted from the sixteenth century to much of the seventeenth, periods during which the city saw the departure of the Invincible Navy, had to deal with English attacks (Drake in May 1589) and harassment of the fleet of the Archbishop of Bordeaux in year 1639.
Battles
One of the artillery pieces.
During Francis Drake's attack on the city it was two companies of soldiers and several pieces of artillery that effectively defended the southern flank of the Old City from the unfinished castle.
In 1639 the fleet of the Archbishop of Bordeaux attacked the city. The crossfire of the artillery of this castle and the one of the missing person of San Diego played an important paper in the defense.
Lazareto and prison Edit
From the 16th to the 18th centuries it was a defensive building and prison, and was later used as a infirmary to isolate sailors arriving in the city affected by an infectious disease.
The fortress underwent major reforms from 1777 to house the Army Corps of Engineers, reforms in which a low battery, a small port, a chapel, battlements and the governor's house were built. These reforms became necessary when their defensive capacity became obsolete since the ships of century XVIII were higher than the castle, being their platforms unprotected.
Famous prisoners of the Castle of Santo Antón
From the early 18th century to the 20th century it was used as a prison. During that time some people of the time were prisoners in the penitentiary like:
the defender of Barcelona in the War of Spanish Succession, the general lieutenant Antonio de Villaroel who would die in the Castle of Santo Antón the 22 of February of 1726;
field marshal Juan Diaz Porlier;
the navigator Alessandro Malaspina from 1796 to 1803, after falling into disgrace, being tried and convicted after returning from his expedition;
Melchor de Macanaz (minister of Felipe V of Spain) during fourteen years as well as in 1822 its grandson Pedro de Macanaz (minister of Fernando VII).
20th Century
In 1960 it was ceded by the Ministry of the Army to the City Council of A Coruña, to house a museum that, after carrying out renovation works since 1964 directed by Pons Sorolla, opened its doors in 1968. In 1975 Felipe Senén López was appointed director.
The theme of the museum space is archeology and houses pieces of protohistoric goldsmithing, megalithism, the Bronze Age in Galicia, the castrexa culture, the Romanization of Galicia and others related to the city.
Description
It is a fortress built in the 16th century at the entrance to the Bay of A Coruña. Its formal antecedents are in the Italian castles of beginnings of Century XVI, constructed by engineers to the orders of Carlos I, and with the castle of Sant'Elmo in Naples like one of the nearest examples.
It has an elongated structure, adapting to the promontory, with the entrance facing the port.
The entrance is defended by santabárbaras excavated in the rock. In its portal the shields of the Empire with the Golden Sailor of the governor Marquess of Cerralbo and the one of the Inquisición are placed.
Crossing the entrance you reach a courtyard of arms protected by side vaulted curtains, and where the casemates are located that house archaeological finds in the province (frets, sculptures, laudas, heraldry ...).
The upper part is accessed by a wide ramp. In this place, on the left is the access to the cistern, where rainwater is collected through a piping system. Also located here is the well, which has direct access to the cistern. The end facing the estuary is structured on a starry platform for the placement of artillery, [16] where period cannons and sentries are preserved.
The Governor's House is the product of the reforms of the late eighteenth century and the work of engineer Antonio López Sopeña,who designed a mansion in neoclassical style. Composed of two floors, the lower was intended to serve as a barracks and the upper was divided between two houses and the chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary, patron saint of the city. The roof of the building is accessed via a narrow spiral staircase
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visit link)
Schedule
Winter (from September to June):
Tuesday to Saturday: from 10:00 to 19:30.
Sundays and holidays: from 10:00 to 14:30.
Closed Monday.
Summer (July and August):
Tuesday to Saturday: from 10:00 to 21:00.
Sundays and holidays: from 10:00 to 15:00.
Closed Monday.
* Note: access to the venue is not allowed half an hour before closing.