Fort San Pedro: Mirror of the Past

Hello, my dear Hive friends in this awesome community, my heartfelt greetings to you all. How are you today? I hope you are all doing fine as we explore different places full of wonders. For today, I will be sharing with you one of my cityscape adventures in one of the historical structures of Cebu - Fort San Pedro, as my entry to Asian Hive Community Challenge #47 "Interesting Architecture" posted by @justinparke.

Every time I'll visit Cebu City, Fort San Pedro interests me a lot. From the structure itself and to its museum and the different canyons used by the Spanish soldiers to defend his men and other locals against the attacks of the Muslims.

Do you want to know why I am amazed by this place? Come with me and I'll take a virtual tour with you. I'm excited to share the beauty of the place. I hope you too are excited to see it.

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Short History of Fort San Pedro

According to thepoortraveler.net, Fort San Pedro is not a popular tourist spot but a functional military defense structure. Lying in Plaza Independencia in Cebu City, Fort San Pedro (aka Fuerza de San Pedro) was constructed by Spanish and Cebuano laborers. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a Spanish conquistador who founded the earliest Spanish settlement in Cebu, initiated the construction of the fortress.

Its earliest form was made of logs, built on May 8, 1565, only 11 days after Legazpi arrived in Cebu. Through the years, the fort experienced many changes including the replacement of wood with stone and mortar.

Today, the place is now made into a historical park under the care of the Cebu City Government. Some area inside the place becomes a museum that displays the Spanish government's legacies and well-preserved Spanish artifacts like documents, paintings, and sculptures. The spacious lawn inside the fort is now being utilized as function halls for some events like weddings, birthdays, and other occasions, of course, permits and other needed requirements should be approved before using the area.

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The Entrance - Make way to get in

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_{Locals and foreign people love to visit the place for its interesting structure and history}
This is the main entrance to the fort. Looking from the outside point of the entrance gate, you will surely be amazed by the construction of the place. The fort forms a triangular shape with uneven lengths. The two sides are facing the sea while the other side is facing the land, specifically facing Plaza Independencia where the current gate is located. Its walls are 20 feet tall and 8 feet thick. On the top of the gate is two rectangular columns that have the Philippine flag raised at the center. There is also three tunnel-form on the top with the image of the Sto. Nino, the patron saint of the city, is placed at the center.

Below is a seal that was told to us as the seal of the Spanish King. Another interesting arch you will see on the top of the gate is written the Spanish name of the place and the year it was built.

The left and right outside structure of the fort is planted with Bermuda grass which adds to the beauty of the place.

Going in, you will see a gallery of paintings about the fort and history of Cebu. On the left side, you will see Fort San Pedro's history, its structures before, and a map of the place. On the right, it is the history of the founding of Cebu and the arrival of Spaniards.

Before taking a tour of the whole area, you will have to pay an entrance fee of 30Php at the registration area.

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The tour begins...

THE GALLERY

The ground floor near Viviende del Teniente building is used as museum, where gallery of pictures can be seen. The masterpieces of a famous Cebuano artist named Emmanuel F. Panares is being displayed in the area. Some of his artworks are the famous people in the history of Cebu and Spanish traveler who discovered the Philippines.

The upper room is used as the living quarter of the Lieutenant of the Port and eventually become the storage of weapons and gunpowder during the war between Spaniards and Americans, unfortunately when I visited the place, the room was lock-up so I did not know what can be seen inside as of the present times.

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THE PATHWAY

Walking in the pathway, you can see that its construction is very interesting. Pathways are very wide so that it can accommodate large number of people visiting the place. The pathways are very unique, it can hide soldiers on top during battle and because of its overlooking view, it can directly see who will attack the area.

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THE TURRETS

Every end portion of the oldest tri-bastion fort is a turret. This serves as the watch tower during the war. Personnel assign to turrets should always be alert for the coming attacks.

As you can see, turrets was well built perfectly for them to see the enemies.

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THE CANYONS

Because the fort is a military base during Spanish Regime, there are lot of canyons you can see in the place. There are 14 canyons mounted in the area and being hide in plants so that it cannot be seen easily by enemies. Some of the canyons are still in the place today.

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THE LAWNS

The lawns inside Fort San Pedro is very much spacious that can accommodate different events held in the place. It was nice to walk around inside the fort because it was so relaxing.

There is a huge kalachuchi tree inside that serves best as the shading and resting place to whoever will visit the place.

There are a lot of chairs you can see inside the lawns. After touring around the place, you can sit and relax.

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HOW TO GET THERE?

Fort San Pedro, is located in A. Pigafetta Street, Cebu City. It is just a walking distance to Plaza Independencia.

If you are from Magellan's Cross and Basilica Del Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu, you can ask the locals you meet to guide you to the exact location.

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Indeed, it is wonderful to wander around and know the importance of the structures around us, its history and its significance.

Visiting the place for many times refreshed my mind of the bravery of the Cebuano who defended our place from the enemies and the battles they have been through.

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Thank you for reading this far my Hive friends and for supporting my blog! That's all for today's blog. See you around. Keep safe everyone!