View source for Fort Santiago

{{Short description|16th-century citadel in Manila, Philippines}}
{{Use Philippine English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox building
| name                = Fort Santiago
| native_name         = Moóg ng Santiago
| native_name_lang    = Tagalog
| status              = 
| image               = Fort Santiago, Intramuros.JPG
| image_alt           = 
| caption             = The reconstructed main gate of Fort Santiago
| map_type            = Metro Manila#Luzon mainland#Philippines
| map_alt             = 
| map_caption         = 
| altitude            = 
| building_type       = Bastioned fort
| architectural_style = Italian-Spanish school of fortification
| structural_system   = Masonry
| cost                = 
| ren_cost            = 
| client              = 
| owner               = 
| current_tenants     = 
| landlord            = 
| location            = along the [[Pasig River]]
| address             = 
| location_town       = [[Intramuros]]
| location_country    = [[Philippines]]
| coordinates         = {{coord|14|35|42|N|120|58|10|E|dim:30_region:PH_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| namesake            = [[James the Great|Saint James the Great]]
| groundbreaking_date =
| start_date          = 1590 
| completion_date     = 1593
| opened_date         = 
| inauguration_date   = 
| renovation_date     = 1733
| demolition_date     = 
| destruction_date    = 
| height              = 
| diameter            = 
| antenna_spire       = 
| roof                = 
| top_floor           = 
| other_dimensions    = {{convert|2030|ft}} perimeter
| floor_count         = 
| floor_area          = 
| seating_type        = 
| seating_capacity    = 
| elevator_count      = 
| main_contractor     = 
| architect           = [[Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas]] (1590)<br/>Fernándo Valdés y Tamon (1730s)
| architecture_firm   = 
| structural_engineer = Leonardo Iturriano<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robb |first1=Walter |title=Filipinos |date=1939 |publisher=Carmelo & Bauermann |location=Manila |pages=210–215}}</ref>
| services_engineer   = 
| civil_engineer      = 
| other_designers     = 
| quantity_surveyor   = 
| awards              = 
| designations        = National Historical Landmark
| ren_architect       = 
| ren_firm            = 
| ren_str_engineer    = 
| ren_serv_engineer   = 
| ren_civ_engineer    = 
| ren_oth_designers   = 
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| website             = {{URL|https://visitfortsantiago.com}}
| embedded            = 
| references          = 
}}

'''Fort Santiago''' ({{langx|es|Fuerte de Santiago}}; {{langx|fil|Moóg ng Santiago}}), built in 1571, is a [[citadel]] or castle built by Spanish navigator and governor [[Miguel López de Legazpi]] for the newly established city of [[Manila]] in the [[Philippines]]. The defense fortress is located in [[Intramuros]], the walled city of Manila.

The fort is one of the most important historical sites in Manila. Several people died in its prisons during the [[Spanish Empire]] and [[World War II]]. [[José Rizal]], the Philippine national hero, was imprisoned here before his execution in 1896. The [[Rizal Shrine (Intramuros)|Rizal Shrine]] museum displays memorabilia of the hero in their collection and the fort features, embedded onto the ground in bronze, his footsteps representing his final walk from his cell to the location of the actual execution.

It is only a few meters away from the [[Manila Cathedral]] and the ''Palacio del Gobernador'' (lit. ''Governor's Palace'', currently the office of the [[Commission on Elections (Philippines)|Commission on Elections]]).

==Profile==

{{multiple image
| align     = left
| direction = vertical
| header    = Adornments of the gate
| width     = 150

| image1    = Painting of Santiago Matamoros.jpg
| alt1      = Image of Saint James ''(Santiago)''
| caption1  = Image of Saint James ''(Santiago)''

| image2    = Lesser_Royal_Coat_of_Arms_of_Spain_(1700-1868_and_1834-1930)_Pillars_of_Hercules_Variant.svg
| alt2      = The lesser arms of the monarch of Spain
| caption2  = The lesser arms of the monarch of Spain
}}

The fort was named after [[James the Great|Saint James]] (''Santiago'' in Spanish), the [[patron saint]] of [[Spain]], who is also known as Saint James the Muslim-slayer because of the legend that he miraculously appeared hundreds of years after his death to fight in the battle of Clavijo, whose [[relief]] adorns the [[façade]] of the front gate.<ref name=pilot>John T. Pilot (October 22, 2009). [https://www.flickr.com/photos/johntewell/4045802330/in/photostream "Fort Santiago Gate"]. Flickr. Retrieved on January 8, 2012.</ref><ref>John T. Pilot (October 22, 2009). [https://www.flickr.com/photos/johntewell/4045057439/in/photostream "Fort Santiago Gate"]. Flickr. Retrieved on January 8, 2012.</ref> It is located at the mouth of the [[Pasig River]] and served as the premier defense fortress of the Spanish Government during their rule of the country. It became a main fort for the [[spice trade]] to the [[Americas]] and [[Europe]] for 333 years. The [[Manila Galleon]] trade to [[Acapulco]], [[Mexico]] began from the Fuerte de Santiago.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}

The fort has a [[perimeter]] of {{convert|2030|ft}}, and it is of a nearly triangular form. The south front, which looks toward the city, is a curtain with a [[terreplein]], flanked by two [[demi-bastion]]s - the ''Bastion of San Fernando'', on the riverside, and the ''Bastion of San Miguel'', by the bayside.  A [[moat]] connected with the river separates the fort from the city. Near the beginning of the north face, instead of a bastion, a [[cavalier (fortification)|cavalier]] called ''Santa Barbara'' was built with three faces of [[Artillery battery|batteries]], one looking seaward over the anchorage place, one facing the entrance, and the third looking upon the river. The latter is united with a tower of the same height as the walls, through which there is a descent to the water battery placed upon a semicircular platform, thus completing the triangular form of the fort.<ref name="War437">{{cite book|title=Congressional Serial Set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RhUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA437|year=1903|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=437}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

The {{convert|22|ft|adj=on}} high walls, with a thickness of {{convert|8|ft|m}} are pierced for the necessary communications. The front gateway [[façade]] measures {{convert|40|ft|m}} high being in the south wall and facing the city. The communication with the river and the sea was by an obscure postern gate - the ''Postigo de la Nuestra Señora del Soledad'' (Postern of [[Our Lady of Sorrows|Our Lady of Solitude]]). Inside the fort were guard stations, together with the barracks of the troops of the garrison and quarters of the warden and his subalterns.  Also inside the fort were various storehouses, a chapel, the powder magazine, the sentry towers, the cisterns, etc.<ref name="War437"/>

==History==
{{Further|History of the Philippines}}
[[File:Historical marker Fort Santiago.jpg|thumb|left|Fort [[National Historical Commission of the Philippines|HRMC]] historical marker]]

The location of Fort Santiago was once the site of a [[palisade]]d [[fort]], armed with bronze guns, of [[Rajah Matanda]], a [[Muslim]] Tagalog rajah of pre-Hispanic Manila who himself was a vassal to the Sultan of Brunei. The fort was destroyed by ''maestre de campo'' (master-of-camp) [[Martin de Goiti]] who, upon arriving in 1570 from Cebu, fought several battles with the Muslim natives. The Spaniards started building Fort Santiago (''Fuerte de Santiago'') after the establishment of the city of Manila under Spanish rule on June&nbsp;24,&nbsp;1571, and made Manila the capital of the newly colonized islands.<ref name="War435">{{cite book|title=Congressional Serial Set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RhUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA437|year=1903|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=435}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

The first fort was a structure of palm logs and earth. Most of it was destroyed when the city was invaded by Chinese pirates led by [[Limahong]]. Martin de Goiti was killed during the siege. After a fierce conflict, the Spaniards under the leadership of [[Juan de Salcedo]], eventually drove the pirates out to [[Pangasinan]] province to the north, and eventually out of the country.<ref name="blair-tpi-04">{{cite book | editor1-last = BLAIR | editor1-first = Emma Helen | editor1-link = Emma Helen Blair | editor2-last = ROBERTSON | editor2-first = James Alexander | editor2-link = James Alexander Robertson | others = Historical introduction and additional notes by [[Edward Gaylord Bourne|Edward Gaylord BOURNE]] | title = The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12635 | volume = 04 of 55 (1576–1582) | year = 1903 | publisher = [[Arthur H. Clark Company]] | location = Cleveland, Ohio | oclc = 769945703 | isbn = 9781153716161 | quote = <span style="font-family:Times;font-size:95%">Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.</span> | name-list-style = amp }}</ref>{{rp|pages=32–44}}
The construction of Fort Santiago with hard stone, together with the original fortified walls of Intramuros, commenced in 1590 and finished in 1593 during the term of Governor-General [[Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas]].  The stones used were volcanic [[tuff]] quarried from Guadalupe (now Guadalupe Viejo in [[Makati]]).<ref>[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Santiago_Marker.jpg "Fort Santiago Marker"]. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved on January 7, 2012.</ref>  The fort as Dasmariñas left it consisted of a castellated structure without towers, trapezoidal in trace, its straight gray front projecting into the river mouth. Arches supported an open gun platform above, named the battery of [[Saint Barbara|Santa Barbara]], the patron saint of all good [[artillerymen]]. These arches formed [[casemate]]s which afforded a lower tier of fire through [[embrasure]]s. [[Curtain wall (fortification)|Curtain wall]]s of simplest character, without counter forts or interior [[buttress]]es, extended the flanks to a fourth front facing the city.<ref name="War436">{{cite book|title=Congressional Serial Set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RhUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA437|year=1903|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=436}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>[[File:Fort Santiago 1880 gate.jpg|thumb|left|Side facade of Fort Santiago in 1880. The edifice was partially destroyed by the earthquake of July 1880.|353x353px]] In 1714, the ornate gate of Fort Santiago was erected together with some military barracks.<ref>tzquita (2008-007-11). [https://www.flickr.com/photos/7984080@N04/2659049760/in/photostream/ "At the gate of Fort Santiago"]. Flickr. Retrieved on January 17, 2012.</ref>  The [[Luzon earthquakes of 1880]], which destroyed much of the city of Manila, destroyed the front edifice of the fort changing its character. The years: 1636, 1654, 1670, and 1672; saw the deployment of 22, 50, 86, and 81 Latin-American soldiers from [[Mexican settlement in the Philippines|Mexico at Fort Santiago]].<ref name= "Mexicans" >https://academic.oup.com/past/article/232/1/87/1752419 Convicts or Conquistadores? Spanish Soldiers in the Seventeenth-Century Pacific By Stephanie J. Mawson] AGI, México, leg. 25, núm. 62; AGI, Filipinas, leg. 8, ramo 3, núm. 50; leg. 10, ramo 1, núm. 6; leg. 22, ramo 1, núm. 1, fos. 408 r –428 v; núm. 21; leg. 32, núm. 30; leg. 285, núm. 1, fos. 30 r –41 v .</ref>

During the leadership of Fernándo Valdés y Tamon in the 1730s, a large semicircular gun platform to the front called ''media naranja'' (half orange) and another of lesser dimensions to the river flank were added to the Bastion of Santa Barbara. The [[casemate]]s were then filled in and [[embrasure]]s closed. He also changed the curtain wall facing cityward to a [[bastion]]ed front. A lower [[parapet]], bordering the interior moat, connects the two bastions.<ref name="War436"/>

===British occupation===
{{Main article|Battle of Manila (1762)}}

On September 24, 1762, British forces led by [[William Draper (British Army officer)|Brigadier-General William Draper]] and [[Sir Samuel Cornish, 1st Baronet|Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish]] invaded and captured Manila, and along with it Fort Santiago. It was during this time that the fort served as a base of operations for the [[Royal Navy]] until April 1764 when they agreed to a ceasefire with the Spanish.<ref>Robertson, J.A., and E.H. Blair. The Philippine Islands 1493-1898. Vol. Volume 4. Jeroen Hellingman and the Distributed Proofreaders Team, 2004. Print.</ref>

[[File:Fort Santiago Intramuros Manila.jpg|left|thumb|338x338px|American-occupied Fort Santiago in 1940]]

===American colonial period===
{{Main article|Philippine–American War}}
[[File:American flag raised over Fort Santiago 8-13-1898.jpg|thumb|The raising of the American flag at Fort Santiago]]

On August 13, 1898, the American flag was raised in Fort Santiago signifying the start of the [[History of the Philippines (1898–1946)|American rule]] in the Philippines. The fort served as the headquarters for the [[U.S. Army]] and several changes were made to the fort by the Americans. One of these changes included the draining of the moats surrounding the fort. The grounds were then transformed into a golf course.

===World War II===
{{For|the Japanese Invasion of the Philippines|Philippines campaign (1941–1942)}}

During [[World War II]], Fort Santiago was captured by the [[Japanese Imperial Army]], and used its prisons and dungeons including the storage cells and [[gunpowder magazine]]s for hundreds of prisoners who were killed near the end of the war (see [[Manila massacre]]).<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/johntewell/4104954406/ "Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines"]. Flickr. Retrieved on January 9, 2012. One of the inmates who survived the torture and the War was [[Roy Anthony Cutaran Bennett]].</ref> The fort sustained heavy damage from American and Filipino military [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] shells during the [[Battle of Manila (1945)|Battle of Manila]] in February 1945. Also, approximately 600 American prisoners of war died of suffocation or hunger after being held in extremely tight quarters in the dungeons at Fort Santiago.

==The fort today==
Today, the fort, its bastions, and the prison dungeons for criminals used by the Spanish officials, is now part of a historical park which also includes [[Plaza Moriones, Intramuros|Plaza Moriones]] and several ruins. The park houses well-preserved legacies from the Spanish colonial period including memorabilia of [[Jose Rizal|José Rizal]] at the [[Rizal Shrine (Intramuros)|Rizal Shrine]], a replica of his ancestral house in Laguna province.

Adaptive use of this famous historical landmark makes certain areas ideal for open air theater, picnics, and as a [[promenade]]. The Intramuros visitors center gives an overview of the various attractions in the walled city.

===Preservation===
After its destruction during WWII, Fort Santiago was declared as a ''Shrine of Freedom'' in 1950. Its restoration by the Philippine government did not begin till 1953 under the hands of the National Parks Development Committee. The [[Intramuros Administration]] now manages the reconstruction, maintenance, and management of the fort since 1992.<ref>tzquita (2008-007-11). [https://www.flickr.com/photos/7984080@N04/2658222603/ "At the gate of Fort Santiago"]. Flickr. Retrieved on January 7, 2012.</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:The critic in the Occident (1913) (14753394646).jpg|Fort Santiago in 1913
File:80-G-273361.jpg|A U.S. Army M4 Sherman enters the fort during the Battle of Manila, 1945
File:MANILA, FORT SANTIAGO, STADTMAUER.jpg|Fort Santiago gate before its reconstruction and restoration
File:Manila, Fort Santiago, Walled city of Intramuros, Philippines.jpg|Fort Santiago gate after restoration
File:Entrance of Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila - panoramio.jpg|The entrance of Fort Santiago
File:Philippines tarjeta 1 036.jpg|The grounds of Fort Santiago with the [[Binondo]] skyline in the background
File:Fort Santiago - no people (Intramuros, Manila; 07-22-2020).jpg|Fort Santiago in 2020
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Fort of San Antonio Abad]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* U.S. War Department (1903). [https://books.google.com/books?id=zSTcdx5Y-PQC&pg=PA208 "Annual Report of the War Department, 1903 Vol. III"]. Government Printing Office, Washington.

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/johntewell/3557862943/in/photostream/ The gate of Fort Santiago in the 1920s] from Flickr

{{Intramuros}}
{{Manila landmarks}}
{{Spanish forts in the Philippines}}
{{Philippine Registry of Cultural Property}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Intramuros]]
[[Category:Forts in the Philippines|Santiago]]
[[Category:National Shrines of the Philippines]]
[[Category:Spanish colonial fortifications in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Landmarks in the Philippines]]
[[Category:History of the Philippines (1565–1898)]]
[[Category:Spanish colonial infrastructure in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Cultural Properties of the Philippines in Metro Manila]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Manila]]
[[Category:Reportedly haunted locations in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures of the Philippines destroyed during World War II]]
[[Category:Army installations of the Philippines]]
[[Category:Military installations of the Philippines]]
[[Category:Military installations closed in 1945]]
[[Category:Military installations established in the 16th century]]