La Fortaleza del Real Felipe is the most prominent landmark in Callao. Built during colonial times, it was used to defend Spain’s most important port in the Americas against pirates and corsairs who would otherwise raid Callao or nearby Lima as they did up and down the Pacific coast. Today it is a tourist attraction and museum run by Peru’s army.
During the early colonial period, the Spanish, having conquered the Inca Empire, were busy shipping off its treasures to Spain. Granted license as the continent’s principle port, El Callao was where most of the seized riches were shipped from. This, combined with the fact that Lima was slowly becoming the wealthiest city in the Empire and hence the world, made it a prime target for pirate raids. To protect their port, Viceroy Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Leiva ordered the construction of a wall around the city in the 1640s. This served well, but was unfortunately destroyed by a tsunami in 1746.
Viceroy José Antonio Manso de Velasco afterwards ordered the construction of a fortress.
The Real Felipe fortress was one of the largest construction projects the Spanish had every undertaken costing a bank-breaking 3 million pesos. Many blocks were cut from the San Lorenzo island off the coast, while others were removed from the destroyed remains of the old Callao wall.
The fortress was named after Felipe V of Spain of the House of Borbón who had recently died.
Abtao submarine is a worthy visit.Location: The Base Naval del Callao Naval Base, La Punta, Callao.
Navy Museum. or “Capitán de Navío Julio J. Elías Murguía.”
Location: 1243 Avenida Jorge Chávez Avenue.
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