The Castle of the Royal Force/Army is a bastion fort located in the Plaza des Armas Square. It was the first big fortification to have been constructed in Havana. The oldest preserved fort in the Americas, it was built in 1577 serve as a replacement for an earlier fort which was badly damaged by French pirates.
The historic monument is most famous for its watchtower (added in 1634 and now a symbol of Havana city), adorned with a bronze statuette in the shape of a woman (replica of La Giraldilla of the Seville Cathedral, Spain) that is used as a weather vane.
The fortress’s exterior consists of a square segregated into nine equal sections with four regular bastions reminiscent of Italian and French Renaissance architecture and a pit with a perimetral wall.
Picture Credit : Google