Guarding the gate to the New World
Begun in 1502 under Governor Nicolás de Ovando, the fortress was built to defend the mouth of the Ozama River and the harbour that was, for decades, the single doorway between Europe and the Americas. From here expeditions of conquest and colonisation sailed for Cuba, Mexico and the mainland.
Its heart is the Torre del Homenaje, the Tower of Homage — a crenellated stone keep raised in the medieval European manner, among the very first such structures built in the hemisphere.
Four centuries under arms
The fortress remained in continuous military use for more than four hundred years, garrisoned in turn by Spain, France, Haiti, England and the Dominican Republic, and serving for long stretches as a prison. It was decommissioned only in the 1970s.
At its entrance stands a statue of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, the chronicler of the early Indies, who served as the fortress's warden. The complex is part of the UNESCO-listed Colonial City of Santo Domingo.
What you'll see
- ✦The Torre del Homenaje, the medieval-style tower of homage
- ✦Ramparts and colonial cannons above the Ozama River
- ✦The arsenal and the old powder house
- ✦The statue of chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo
