130 years ago the construction of the Costa Battery No.1 began. Its construction was part of Spain’s last attempt to protect Havanaand with it, the last vestiges of its once glorious colonial empire in America.
Located on the other side of the bay, in the current municipality of Habana del Este, it was built at the end of the 19th century to reinforce the defense of the Cuban capital. At that time, the Creoles were fighting hard to achieve their independence and the United States was lurking, waiting for a military intervention against which the new Spanish fortification could ultimately do little.
Battery No.1 is considered the last exponent of Spanish military engineering in America and, at the same time, a symbol of the transition between the world of bastioned fortresses and that of modern war. During the naval blockade of 1898 he only saw action for two days, during which he fired on American ships that approached the coast. That was his entire war record.
However, the facility has indisputable historical and heritage values. The fact that it was built following the most modern techniques of its time for this type of construction makes it a site that needs to be preserved. No wonder it is part of the complex declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982, along with the historic center of Havana.
In this Spanish fortification, its builders used a covered location, with ditches, niches, trenches and the use of highly effective pieces, while, on its front, earth masses with thicknesses of 10 to 12 meters were placed to counteract enemy artillery. Added to this is the fact that the so-called Portland cement was used in it for the first time in Cuba.
To its architectural successes, it also added the use of recognized military technology, in particular its long-range Ordóñez cannons and the rapid-firing Nordenfeldt guns—dismantled from the cruiser Alfonso
Despite all its recognized values, a century and 30 years after its birth, the Costa Battery No.1 is not experiencing even a good moment. The passage of time led to abandonment from which plans to convert it into a museum have not yet been able to rescue it. Projects in this direction have not been achieved, despite sporadic work for their rehabilitation.
Although the authorities and institutions in charge maintain the intention of transforming the site – according to a recent publication—, its current reality is far from what was desired, and is marked by weeds, graffiti on its walls, neglect and loneliness, as confirmed by these recent images taken on the spot by the photojournalist Otmaro Rodríguez.
