San Juan National Historic Site (NPS)
The San Juan National Historic Site includes several fortifications such as the San Cristóbal Castle, the San Felipe del Morro Castle, and the San Juan de la Cruz Fort (also known as El Cañuelo), bastions, gunpowder houses, and three quarters of the defensive wall that protected the city. All these structures surround the old colonial part of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Cañuelo Fort stands at Isla de Cabras, west of the entrance to the San Juan Bay.
The Spanish troops began building these fortifications in 1539, starting with a tower at El Morro and La Fortaleza. Their construction took more than 250 years. Most of the walls we see today were added later, from 1760 to 1780. The San Juan National Historic Site was declared Patrimony of Humanity in 1983.
In 1949, when it became part of the United States’ National Park Service, library and museum programs were established. Since then, these programs have been documenting current and past events associated to the fortifications of San Juan and actively teaching about their more than five-hundred years of history.
The San Juan National Historic Site’s archival collection contains over 351,000 documents, photographs, oral histories, slides, and maps related to topics ranging from the Spanish-American War to the founding of the park, as well as the activities that currently take place there. The Cultural History Collection, for example, includes historic collections, photographs, art, and archaeological artifacts, as well as 280,000 objects that tell the stories of Fort Brooke, the daily life of the Spanish soldier, and the defense strategies stablished through the years.
El San Juan National Historic Site archive is located at the San Cristóbal Castle, #501 Norzagaray Street in San Juan.
Contact Information:
Jan Torres
Cultural Resources Management Division
787-729-6767
jan_torres@nps.gov
SAJU_Superintendent@nps.gov
