Cebu: inside Fort San Pedro, The Oldest Fort in the Philippines

A contemporary tune played by a skilled blind musician welcomed us as we stepped into the grounds of Fort San Pedro in Cebu City. The music was rather merry that my cheery buddies might not assist however dance to the tune. There we were by the entrance to a truly historic site, dancing as well as sharing a laugh on a bright Saturday afternoon.

Rewind to centuries earlier, when Fort San Pedro was not a prominent tourist area however a practical armed forces defense structure. Lying in Plaza Independencia in Cebu City, Fort San Pedro (aka Fuerza de San Pedro) was built by Spanish as well as Cebuano laborers. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a Spanish conquistador who established the earliest Spanish settlement in Cebu, initiated the building of the fortress.

By the entrance to the fort
The fort has a long as well as rich history. At the entrance to the site, we already indulged our eyes with the pictures published on the walls of barrel vault entrance, depicting the progressive advancement of the fort. Its earliest type was made from logs, developed on may 8, 1565, only 11 days after Legazpi shown up in Cebu. with the years, the fort experienced many modifications including the replacement of wood with stone as well as mortar. There was likewise a portrait of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer who led the Spanish expedition that ultimately reached the Philippines in 1521.

A portrait of Ferdinand Magellan
A colonnade inside the fort, topped with yellow bells
Fort San Pedro is stated to be the oldest as well as the smallest fort in the Philippines, covering an area of 2,025 square meters. Its walls are 20 feet tall as well as 8 feet thick, developing a triangle with unequal lengths: two sides deal with the sea as well as the other the land, where the present entrance entrance to the fort is located. The entrance has two rectangular columns that flank a increased Philippine flag, that serves as the apex of the structure. three tunnel-shaped windows sit on top of a gable which holds a niche that shelters an picture of the Sto. Nino, the city’s customer saint. below it is one more shallower niche marked with a seal, which I was told was the seal of the Spanish king. below it is the entrance, a barrel vault, whose arch is topped with a spandrel that bears the Spanish name of the location as well as the year it was built.

The top part of the entrance to the Fort
The seal of the Spanish King at the gate
A turret in one of the corners of Fort San Pedro

Each corner of the triangular fort harbors a bastion — the Ignacio de Loyola in the southeast corner, La Concepcion in the southwest, as well as San Miguel in the north corner. On each corner stands a turret that serves as a watchtower. There are 14 cannons installed at the site together with a number of trees as well as ornamental plants that serve as inanimate ushers around the fort.

My buddy Ian, admiring the view
My buddies Chichi as well as Clare dancing to the music
Today, Fort San Pedro is a combination of a park which serves as an oasis in the middle of a busy city as well as a museum where visitors can discover a fantastic offer about the history of Cebu as well as the beginnings of the Spanish rule in the Philippines.

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