La Fortaleza

La Fortaleza (English: The Fortress), also known as Palacio de Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine's Palace), has been the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico since the 16th century, making it the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the New World. Built between 1533 and 1540 by orders of Charles I of Spain, the structure was the first fortification constructed by the Spanish on San Juan Islet to defend San Juan Bay, the harbor of Old San Juan. La fortaleza, alongside El Morro, San Cristóbal, El Cañuelo, and other forts part of the Walls of Old San Juan, protected strategically and militarily important Puerto Rico, or La Llave de las Indias (The Key to the Indies), from invasion by competing world powers and harassment by privateers and pirates during the Age of Sail. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983 as part of La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site.

The structure


La Fortaleza was the first defensive fortification built in the historic city of Old San Juan, originally known as Ciudad de Puerto Rico (rich port city), and the first of a series of military structures built to protect the city, which included the Castillo San Felipe del Morro and the Fort San Cristóbal. The construction was authorized by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as a defense against attacks from Island Caribs and the European powers of the time.

Initially, the structure consisted of four walls enclosing an interior patio with a circular tower known as the Homage Tower. From the top of the tower, following military tradition, the governor would take fidelity oaths at critical moments to the King and Queen of Spain. Later, a second tower named the Austral Tower was constructed.

During the 1640 reconstruction, a chapel named after Santa Catalina Alejandría originally standing outside the fortification’s walls was integrated into the structure's walls, resulting in the alternate name of Palacio de Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine's Palace).

The complex currently consists of a few attached buildings with formal living quarters on the second floor and private quarters on the third. It overlooks the high city walls that front the bay, and within the north perimeter of the house are sheltered gardens and a swimming pool.

History


Starting in 1529, Governor La Gama petitioned the emperor on the need to build defensive fortifications "because the island's defenseless condition caused the people to emigrate." Construction started in 1533, using stone, and concluded by 1540. Yet the fort had no guns, and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés commented, "if it had been constructed by blind men could not have been located in a worse location." Yet the structure has served as the governor's residence since 1544.

Since the 16th century, La Fortaleza has acted as the residence of the Governor of Puerto Rico, making it the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the Americas. The mansion was remodeled in 1846 by the Spanish authorities to adapt its military origin to its new purely administrative function.

La Fortaleza has been captured three times by foreign powers:


 * 1598, George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, attacked San Juan.
 * In 1625, General Boudewijn Hendricksz (Balduino Enrico) of the Netherlands invaded the city and established himself at La Fortaleza. During the Dutch retreat, the fortress and the city were set ablaze.
 * 1898, the U.S. Navy invaded and occupied Puerto Rico, establishing a provisional government.

In 1834, Colonel George Dawson Flinter described the fortress of Santa Catalina as having a chapel, stables, cistern, and an east wing with spacious apartments.

According to tradition, in 1898, just before the United States invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War, the last Spanish governor of the island, Ricardo De Ortega, struck a longcase clock in La Fortaleza with his sword, stopping the clock and marking the time at which Spain lost control over Puerto Rico.



On October 30, 1950, there was an attempt by a few nationalists to enter La Fortaleza in what is known as the San Juan Nationalist revolt, intending to attack then-governor Luis Muñoz Marín. The 5-minute shootout resulted in four Nationalists dead: Domingo Hiraldo Resto, Carlos Hiraldo Resto, Manuel Torres Medina, and Raímundo Díaz Pacheco. Three of the guards of the building, among them Lorenzo Ramos, were seriously injured.

On October 9, 1960, La Fortaleza was designated a United States National Historic Landmark. Teodoro Vidal, a cultural affairs official under Luis Muñoz Marín, organized renovation work on the building around this time.

In 1983, La Fortaleza, along with the San Juan National Historic Site, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Trivia


La Fortaleza has two towers: the Astral Tower and the Homenaje Tower (Homage Tower), which show that it was originally a military structure.

The Homage Tower houses the Santa Catalina Chapel, where a colorful mosaic of 95,000 pieces in honor of the Holy Trinity stands out.

In 1956, when an area covered with a panel was unsealed, what could be the old kitchen of La Fortaleza was discovered in the Austral Tower.

The paintings exhibited at La Fortaleza are on loan from the Institute of Puerto Rican Historical Culture and are changed according to the taste of the ruler of the day.

Originally, La Fortaleza was painted salmon red, the characteristic color of the island's military installations of the time of Spanish colony. Its wooden doors were green and its columns were painted white with gold details.



U.S. Presidents who have visited La Fortaleza, include Herbert Hoover in 1931, Harry S. Truman in 1948, John F. Kennedy in 1961, Barack Obama in 2011, and Bill Clinton in 2013.

La Fortaleza has had 156 governors: 124 under the Spanish regime, 19 under the U.S. regime and 13 Puerto Ricans, 11 elected, one appointed by the President of the United States Jesús T. Piñero and one sworn in by the Constitution of Puerto Rico Wanda Vázquez Garced.

Three flags fly over La Fortaleza: the Puerto Rican flag, the American flag, and the Governor's white flag. When the white flag is not raised, it is because the governor is outside the Santa Catalina Palace.

The Hundido Garden was named Doña Inés Garden in honor of Doña Inés Mendoza, wife of former governor Luis Muñoz Marín, because that was her favorite spot at La Fortaleza, where she lived for 16 years.

In literature
In 2011, Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi wrote the dramatic novel United States of Banana, featuring climactic scenes of revolution at La Fortaleza.