The Fortaleza del Cerro, also known as Fortaleza General Artigas, is a fortress situated in
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern c ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
overlooking the
Bay of Montevideo
The Bay of Montevideo ( es, Bahía de Montevideo) is the bay around the city of Montevideo, Uruguay in the Rio de la Plata.
It was previously named by Pedro de Mendoza as "Bahía de la Candelaria".
Description
The bay has a round shape – appr ...
. It belongs to the ''barrio'' of
Casabó
Casabó is a neighbourhood of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Geography
The neighbourhood of Casabó is located in the southwestern part of Montevideo, between the districts of Santa Catalina to the west, Villa del Cerro to the east, Villa Esperanza to the ...
, at the west of
Villa del Cerro
Villa del Cerro is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Location
This barrio shares borders with Casabó to the west, La Paloma to the north, the Pantanoso Creek to the northeast, the Bay of Montevideo to the east a ...
. It holds a dominant position on the highest hill of the department of Montevideo (popularly known as Cerro de Montevideo) with an altitude of 134 meters above sea level, on the opposite side of the bay. Its function was to defend the population of Montevideo and its port, on the
río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...
. Governor
Francisco Javier de Elío
Francisco Javier de Elío y Olóndriz (Pamplona, 1767 – Valencia, 1822), was a Spanish soldier, governor of Montevideo. He was also instrumental in the Absolutist repression after the restoration of Ferdinand VII as King of Spain. For thi ...
ordered construction in 1809 and it was completed in 1839; this was the last Spanish fort built in Uruguay. It has housed the Military Museum since 1916.
Monument and Sight
It has been a National Monument since 1931 and has housed a military museum since 1916. Today it is a well-known attraction for tourists visiting Montevideo.