Santa Cruz Fort is one of the three forts in

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

, the second largest port city of

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

; the other two forts are Fort de la Moune at the western end of the port and Fort Saint-Philippe, a replacement of the old castle of the Saints known in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

as Castillo de los Santos, at the centre of Oran. The three forts are connected by tunnels. Fort Santa Cruz was built between 1577 and 1604 by the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

on the Pic d'Aidour above Gulf of Oran in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, at an elevation of above . In 1831, the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

occupied Oran and the fort. A small chapel, known as the Chapel of Santa Cruz, stands close to the fort. This chapel has been refurbished with a tower, which has a huge statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, said to be a replica of that at

Notre-Dame de la Garde Notre-Dame de la Garde (; : Titles of Mary, Our Lady of the Guard), known to local citizens as ''la Bonne Mère'' (French for 'the Good Mother'), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Basilicas in the Catholic Church, basilica in Marseille and the city ...

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

, styled as Notre-Dame du Salut de Santa Cruz.

Geography

The fort is located at a height of about on , also known as Pic d'Aidour, from where there are views of Mers-el-Kebir, the strategic military port of Oran. Beneath the castle, on the hill slope, is the chapel of the

Blessed Virgin Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, which is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

pilgrimage site.

History

The Ottomans built the first fort on the site. After the Spaniards defeated the Ottomans in the sixteenth Century, they rebuilt Fort Santa Cruz. The Spaniards ruled Oran for about 300 years till 1792. In the past, the fortress of Santa Cruz accommodated the Oran city governors. The fort city under Spanish rule continued to grow, requiring enlargement of the city walls. In spite of the improved fortifications, the city was the object of repeated attacks. Notable in this regard was when Moroccan Sharif Moulay Ismail tried to force his way past the defenses in 1707, only to see his army decimated. Oran was also hit by an earthquake in 1791, when most of the city was damaged and the Spanish who had ruled from 1509 evacuated. The French then occupied the city in 1831. Santacruz was the highest of the three forts erected by the Spanish above the town of Oran which was a dominantly Muslim town with buildings of mostly

Moorish architecture Moorish architecture is a style within Islamic architecture that developed in the western Islamic world, including al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula) and what is now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia (part of the Maghreb). Scholarly references on Is ...

. To show their dominance of "Crescent above the Cross", the local people built the Marabut chapel, opposite to the fort at a higher elevation. This chapel was crowned with a

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

on a white

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. Spaniards held on here till 1792, after the 1791 earthquake. When the French occupied, the Muslims all migrated into the interior parts of Algeria but many returned later after Abd–el-Khader was defeated.

Architecture

The fort, built between 1577 and 1604, The fortifications of the place were composed of thick and continuous walls of over two and a half kilometers in circumference, surmounted by strong towers spaced between them, with a central castle or

kasbah A kasbah (, also ; , , Maghrebi Arabic: ), also spelled qasbah, qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term in Spanish (), which is derived from the same ...

where the Spanish governor established his headquarters. The fort was built with iron, wood, sand, lime and water carried up the hill through winding and difficult paths. It was expanded repeatedly to strengthen the fortifications, the galleries passing underneath the town mounting and descending the various hills. It has a rainwater storage harvesting system, with the largest tank having a capacity of 300,000 liters.

Santa Cruz chapel

The Santa Cruz Chapel was built by the Bishop of Oran at the place where he had carried the statue of the

in a procession, followed by the people of the city, to the Oran hill, when a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

had affected the people of Oran, in 1847. They sought blessings from the Virgin Mary to protect the city from the epidemic. The entire population implored the Blessed Virgin to bless the place with rain. After the rain came, the town of Oran and the region were saved from the epidemic of cholera. As a tribute to this miracle, a chapel was built on the hill at the foot of the fort of Santa Cruz. This chapel is named the Santa Cruz Church. It was considered as being the Protector of the town. In commemoration of this event, every year until Algeria became independent in 1962,

Ascension Day The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ (also called the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday) commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It ...

was observed when the people of Oran and the surrounding areas paid homage to the Virgin Mary by climbing up the mountain trail to the chapel as a pilgrimage.

Gallery

File:Oran fort santa cruz ON067.jpg, Aerial view of the fort and the chapel in 1942. File:Fort de Santa-Cruz Oran وهران - panoramio.jpg, Ramparts of the Fort of Santa Cruz. File:Algérie - Oranie - 42.jpg, Northern front of the fort. File:Oran Santa Cruz.JPG, Fort of Santa Cruz and the whitewashed Notre-Dame de Santa Cruz church in Oran. File:Le fort Santa Cruz dominant la ville d'Oran.jpg, Fort Santa Cruz dominating the city of Oran.

External links

References

{{Reflist, 33em 903 establishments Buildings and structures completed in 1604 Buildings and structures in Oran Province Buildings and structures of the Ottoman Empire Mediterranean port cities and towns in Algeria Former Spanish colonies Populated coastal places in Algeria Port cities of the Mediterranean Sea Forts in Algeria 1604 establishments in the Spanish Empire Tourist attractions in Oran Province 10th-century establishments in Africa 10th-century fortifications