Fortaleza de San Fernando de Omoa

OVERVIEW

A triangular stone fortress on the Bay of Omoa, built between 1756 and 1775 to guard the silver route from Guatemala against British raiding from the Mosquito Coast. It is the largest colonial fortification in Central America, with casemates, a moat and a parade ground, and is on UNESCO's tentative list. It was later a prison and is now a museum run by the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History.

HISTORY

In October 1779 a British force captured the fort after a short siege; the Spanish retook it within weeks. It passed to Honduras at independence in 1821 and held political prisoners into the twentieth century.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Omoa's residents, quoted in visitor guides and the Honduran press, describe cannon fire, gunshots, footsteps and shouted orders from the empty fort after dark, and cries from the cells. The accounts are local and informal; the siege and the prison years they echo are documented.

VISITING

Open as a museum; the casemates and ramparts are on the visitor route.