The Castillo de Santa Catalina is a fortress in Santa Cruz de La Palma on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. The original castle was constructed between 1554 and 1560 after the city was attacked by French pirates in 1553. The current castle was constructed between 1685 and 1692 and was recorded as a historical monument in 1951. It has been privately owned since 1949 and is open to the public.
The current castle is built in the style of 16th-century Italian military Renaissance and is quadrangular, with triangle bastions on the corners, a wide embankment, and a moat crossed by a wooden bridge. The entrance portal on calle Castillete bears the coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. Inside, the castle contains a weapons room, powder magazine, dungeons, a warehouse, and a house for the governor and garrison. It served as a garrison and a prison, notably holding the lawyer Anselmo Pérez de Brito.
In front of the castle stands a sculpture of trade winds named 'El Alisio' by Martín Chirino, which was installed in 1999 and restored between 2014 and 2016. The castle is the only preserved Habsburg-era fortification in the Canary Islands.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Mutabor
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