Walls of Havana

The Wall of Old Havana . Work whose construction began during the mandate in Cuba of Francisco Rodríguez de Ledesma . Its construction began on January 3, 1671 and lasted for 137 years, until 1740, when the section facing the Bay of Havana was completed.

Summary

[ disguise ]

• 1 Data
• 2 The city…without a wall
• 3 Construction
• 4 Features
• 5 Demolition
• 6 References
• 7 Sources

Data

The stone wall surrounded Havana and extended for almost 5 km (4,892 meters), averaged 1.40 meters wide and had a regular height of 10 meters. A contingent of 3,400 men and four hundred artillery pieces of various calibers were assigned to defend and guard it.

It was revealed, over the years, not only to be an extremely expensive work, but also militarily useless, so, finally, a little more than a century after its completion, it was demolished.

In some sections of Old Havana you can find pieces of walls that seem to have no reason to exist. Actually, these walls, or fragments, are part of what was once a stone wall that would go from La Punta to the Arsenal , with bastions , sentry boxes and gates with drawbridges , at first two and then up to nine.

The city…without a wall

Since its emergence, Old Havana was highly coveted for its geographical location and the potential it held for the economic development of the island, as is the case of the port of Havana , described as the most important in the country for being the center of activity. port.

Thus, it was hit by countless attacks by corsairs and pirates that endangered the lives of the peninsular people and the wealth that the crown stored in the town, so its fortification through military engineering works that allowed the city to be defended was essential. flourishing city. In this way the fortresses of La Fuerza , La Punta , El Morro , La Cabaña and the towers of Cojímar , La Chorrera and San Lázaro were built .

The walls of Havana were on average 1.40 meters thick and 10 meters high.

However, the city was still vulnerable, so in 1603 there was already a project to create a wall to prevent enemy access through the land side. This part of land was the bare coast, and especially the forest that, on the part of what would later become El Vedado , stood between the sea and the city. The analysis of the wall revealed that the cost of the work would be 207,375 ducats ^[1] , initially planned to be carried out within a period of three years.

It was going to extend from the Campeche neighborhood to La Punta, with four feet wide and eight feet high, plus three additional feet that would be obtained by means of large bricks, but none of this was carried out due to numerous bureaucratic procedures and the lack of funds with which Spain justified itself .

Consequently, other proposals are proposed, such as creating the wall but made of wood and surrounding the town with water moats like medieval castles. The first is quickly discarded, since it would be easily penetrated with the use of fire and the second would be impractical since problems would arise with the unhealthiness that would surround the city.

These plans did not bear fruit and were practically forgotten for several years, until several events occurred between Spain and some of the powers of the time such as England and Holland that demanded the attention of the Crown with respect to the protection of their overseas possessions. , so the king of Spain, in 1667 , ordered more fortification for Havana.

Construction

The wall began to be built during the government of Francisco Rodríguez de Ledesma on January 3 , 1671 and was completed almost a century later; The section that faced land was finished in 1698 , but the part that faced the bay was not completed until 1740 , 137 years after the idea of ​​building it was born, at a cost of three million pesos.

Characteristics

Its extension was about 4,892 meters, it was on average 1.40 meters thick and 10 meters high, and it had a crew of 3,400 men and 180 pieces of weapons. These walls were converted into a characteristic environment of the town.

At first it had two gates: Puerta de La Muralla (later called Puerta de Tierra ) and Puerta de La Punta . Later, others were opened, some being replaced, such as Tenaza’s , which was replaced by Arsenal’s .

In general, there were about nine active gates, including Monserrate , Luz , San José and Jesús María . Everything that remained within the enclosure was called intramuros, the preferred seat of the peninsulars, while the rest, extramuros, was preferably inhabited by the so-called natives of the country or criollos.

As the years went by, this construction led to the division of the town and as more activities and settlements were developed abroad, the existence of the wall became less necessary.

Demolition

Remains of the Wall

In 1863 its demolition began with the collapse of the great wall by the Puertas de Monserrate and it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that it was completed. Currently, the remains of the wall are preserved that testify to the characteristics and layout of this important construction of the defensive system of Havana, which according to specialists had no real use because it never had to face a siege or contain real assault machines. since on the only occasion in which it could have happened, during the taking of Havana by the English, the cunning enemy avoided the stone fence and entered the city through the unprotected hill of La Cabaña.

Although it had a useful life of 123 years, today only scattered remains remain in the old part of the capital, the largest is La Puerta de la Tenaza and is located in Egido and Desamparados , where a canvas of the mole stands out. Also in Egido in front of the central railway station , part of what was the guardhouse of the Puerta Nueva is preserved, while at the intersection with Teniente Rey there is another fragment. In front of the Museum of the Revolution , on Avenida de las Misiones y Refugio , it is possible to see what centuries ago was the Baluarte del Ángel.