Castle of the Royal Force in Old Havana

 Other place in old Havana.  It´s a beatifull edification, I love it!!

In 1540 the general captain ordered the building of a fortress in order to stop the attacks of French and English pirates and corsairs against the village. That pioneer fortress in the island, “La Fuerza”, was built 300 m. from here closer to the harbours entrance and totally made of wood and some stones. It wasn’t very useful to stop the famous French pirate Jaques de Sores  in 1555 and the Governor Francisco Calona decided to built this new one “La Real Fuerza” 12 years latter (1577).

As well as it was the safest place in the village it was used to keep the gold and silver brought by the fleets on theirs way to Spain as well as the governor’s residence. Latter on in 1630 the tower with a human shaped weather vane next to it was added, similar to the Spanish one named “La Giralda” in Sevilla, as a regard to the many sailors that came from that region. The tower has on the top a replica of the bronze sculpture that once served as a weather vane, called “La Giraldilla”. The original one was made by the Spanish blacksmith Gerónimo Martín Pinzón and it is considered the first sculpture made in Cuba. is the symbol of the city and you can find it on the label of Havana Club. 

There is a legend about the woman that inspired it.

She was the wife of Hernando de Soto island´s governor during 1540. Hernando decided to conquer Florida and left his wife “Inés de Bobadilla” as stand-in governor but he never returned to Cuba so according to stories she died longing for her love

By the time the metropolis lost the control over the island, the building had several uses, during the U.S. occupation in 1898 it served as: the headquarters of the rural guard, and latter it was used as the national archive. After the revolution’s triumph it was turned in to The Museum of Arms. Nowadays it houses a museum of artistic ceramics