Castillo San Felipe del Morro Lighthouse facts for kids
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Location | San Juan, Puerto Rico |
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Coordinates | 18°28′15.79″N 66°7′25.01″W / 18.4710528°N 66.1236139°W |
Year first lit | 1908 (rebuilt tower by the U.S Coast Guard ) |
Automated | 1962 |
Foundation | Fort |
Construction | Brick/Masonry (1908 tower) |
Tower shape | Square tower on castle |
Markings / pattern | Gray "Moorish revival" |
Original lens | Third order, Fresnel 1908 |
ARLHS number | PUR-005 |
Castillo San Felipe del Morro Lighthouse, also known as Faro de Morro Port San Juan Light by the National Register of Historic Places and colloquially Faro del Castillo del Morro and Puerto San Juan Light, is a lighthouse atop the walls of Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan. It's the first lighthouse built in Puerto Rico.
The first Castillo San Felipe del Morro Lighthouse was built in 1846 and exhibited a light using five parabolic reflectors. In 1876, a new octagonal iron tower was constructed atop the walls of the fort . The tower was hit by U.S. artillery fire in the Puerto Rican Campaign of the Spanish–American War on May 12, 1898. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1899 but developed structural problems and was demolished in 1906. The new and current lighthouse was constructed in 1908 as a Moorish Revival style "square tower on castle". Public admission tours into the tower are held, and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, along with Castillo San Cristóbal and much of the city walls are part of the San Juan National Historic Site also open to the public.