San Pedro de la Roca Castle
Original name
Morro San Pedro de la Roca
Geographic Area
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Reference Project
Documentation of Antonelli’s fortifications
Site description
The Morro San Pedro de la Roca Castle is located at the entrance to the bay of Santiago de Cuba. Its triangular structure adapts to the rocky wall overlooking the narrow channel below.
The castle constitutes the first fortification (and also the main one) of the bay defense system, which consists of other small batteries located at La Socapa and at the inlets that qualify the structure of the bay, such as the battery of the star, positioned in front of to the route of the ships to access the bay. The front of the land has a large moat with bastions characterized by a graffitied base decoration. The structure of the castle is made up of steps and squares of arms which are articulated on several levels, up to that of the sea.
The castle is one of the most evocative works of Battista Antonelli for its landscape impact and quality.
Credits
Coordinator
Sandro Parrinello
Partnership
Universidad de Oriente,
Oficina del Conservador de la Ciudad de Santiago de Cuba.
Survey Activities
Sandro Parrinello, Martina Simonatti
- Gallery
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Documentation Methodology
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The survey of the Castle was carried out with traditional instruments of direct survey and photogrammetry.
A 3D model was developed from the survey for the study of the compositional system of the complex. The elaborate products are present in one of the museum rooms at the castle and describe the configuration of the architectural system of the monument.
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On 1st January 2006 a small exhibition of drawings of the Castle was organized, following which the survey activities were started. The survey of the Morro Castle San Pedro de la Roca was the first fortification of the Antonellis measured in the research project for the documentation of Antonelli’s works.
Bibliography
Parrinello, S. (2013). La rotta degli Antonelli: documentazione e valorizzazione di una rete di siti UNESCO in Centro America. In Proceedings of UID XXXV, A. Conte, M. Filippa (Ed.) Patrimoni e Siti UNESCO. Memoria, misura e armonia. Matera, 24-26 October 2013., (pp. 779-786). Gangemi Editore. ISBN: 9788849227284. ResearchGate
Parrinello S. (2012). The Documentation of Antonellis’ Fortresses, a research between two worlds.. In Proceedings of S. Parrinello, S. Bertocci, G. Pancani (Ed.) Between East and West Trasposition of cultural systems and military technology of fortified lanscapes. Poppi (Ar), 7-13 May 2012, (pp. 26-33). Firenze: Edifir. ISBN: 9788879705646. ResearchGate
Parrinello, S. (2012). The documentation of the Antonellis’ Fortresses. In Proceedings of S. Parrinello, S. Bertocci, G. Pancani (Ed.) Between East and West Trasposition of cultural systems and military technology of fortified lanscapes. Poppi (Ar), 7-13 May 2012, (pp. 254-269). Firenze: Edifir. ISBN: 9788879705646.
Bertocci, S., Parrinello S. (2009). El Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca, Morro de Santiago de Cuba. In Proceedings of C. Robotti (Ed.) Città Castelli Paesaggi euromediterranei storie rappresentazioni progetti. Capua, 1-2/12/2006, (vol. 1, pp. 439-445), Edizioni del grifo. ISBN: 9788872613542.
