In
Febraury of 1949, ceased its military practices.
Since that, it turn to be a jurisdiction of
the National Services Parks of United States.
The entrance
cost for people elder than 18 year is $2.00,
and $1.00 for children from 13 to 17 years .
Free entrance for 62+ and children under 12
years old.
Schedule:
Everyday from 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.
Except the 25th of December.
Ph. 787.729.6960
Arms Square / “Plaza de
Armas”
It was the place in which the Spanish soldiers
made their military exercises. The Square counts
with fountain called “Fountain of the Four
Stations” / “Fuente de las Cuatro
Estaciones”. Each statue of the fountain
represents the different stations of the year:
Spring, Autumn, Summer and Winter. |
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The
Ballajá Quarter / “Cuartel de Ballajá”
This Quarter began to be constructed by the
Spanish Army in 1854, and it was completed in
1864. It was the last and the greater, military
arquitectonic arrangements of monumental nature
of the Spanish crown in America. The building
architecture is Neoclassic and the courtyard
is paladiana.
This building consisted of rooms for officials,
soldiers and their relatives, warehouses, kitchens,
dining rooms, jails and blocks for horses. Its
main stairs (in ascending gothic vaults) are
unique in Puerto Rico. This building was used
until 1898 as an Infantry Quarter, and lodged
1,000 soldiers and relatives of the Spanish
Bay.
The 12 of May of 1898, a North American Naval
Squadron, under Admiral William T. Sampson,
damaged the northwest side of the Quarter, fuering
the bombing in the City of San Juan. The American
Army used it approximately until 1939. Later
to this date, transformed it into Rodríguez
Hospital. |
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In
1986, the reconstruction of the Ballajá
Quarter began. In 1992, the Americas Museum
(“Museo de las Américas”) was
settled down, a conservative museum with diverse
samples of the cultural history and one of the
greatest of America (“Las Américas”).
Columbus Square / “Plaza
Colón”
The Square, at the entrance of the old city,
was well known in the 17th Century as Santiago
Square (“ Plaza Santiago”), in honor
to the Saint Patron of the Spanish military.
To the front were the enormous Santiago Door/
“Puerta de Santiago”) and the walls
that surrounded the city, demolished in the
19th Century. In 1893, during the commemoration
of the 400 years of the discovery of Puerto
Rico, comissioned the Cristóbal Columbus
statue, inaugurated in the center of the reconstructed
Square, in 1894.
The San Cristóbal Fort
This Fort was an important bastion in the protection
of the northeast area of San Juan. It began
to be constructed in the 1634 and ended in 1678. |
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