- Type
- Fortress
- Built
- 1590 · 16th century
- Location
- National Capital Region, Philippines
- Architect
- Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas
- Coordinates
- 14.5950°, 120.9694°
History
In 1571 Miguel López de Legazpi founded Manila on the site of Rajah Sulayman's fortified settlement and put up a wooden stockade here. After the Chinese pirate Limahong attacked in 1574, the Spanish decided to build in stone, and work began in 1590 under Governor Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas. For more than three centuries the citadel guarded Intramuros and the harbour; the British held it from 1762 to 1764, and the Americans took it over later. José Rizal was imprisoned here in 1896 before his execution. During the Second World War the Japanese used the fort as a prison, and in the Battle of Manila in 1945 much of it was destroyed; it was rebuilt in the second half of the 20th century.
What to see
Visitors enter through a rebuilt gate carved with St James on horseback. Beyond lie lawns and the ruins of old barracks, and at the tip of the headland the Santa Barbara bastion looks out over the Pasig River. The building where Rizal was held is now a museum devoted to him, and bronze footprints set in the pavement trace his last walk to the place of execution.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q478181
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