San Juan is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States, with a population of 342,259. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico.
Tourism in Puerto Rico attracts millions of visitors each year, with more than 5.1 million passengers arriving at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in 2022, the main point of arrival into the island of Puerto Rico. With a $8.9 billion revenue in 2022, tourism has been a very important source of revenue for Puerto Rico for a number of decades given its favorable warm climate, beach destinations and its diversity of natural wonders, cultural and historical sites, festivals, concerts and sporting events. As Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, U.S. citizens do not need a passport to enter Puerto Rico, and the ease of travel attracts many tourists from the mainland U.S. each year.
La Fortaleza is the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico and has been since the 16th century. It was built between 1533 and 1540 to defend the harbor of San Juan, in Puerto Rico. The structure is also known as Palacio de Santa Catalina. It is the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the New World. It was listed by UNESCO in 1983 as part of the World Heritage Site "La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site".
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, also known as El Morro, is a citadel built between 16th and 18th centuries in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Castillo San Cristóbal is a fortress in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was built by the Spanish to protect against land-based attacks on the city of San Juan. It is part of San Juan National Historic Site.
Old San Juan is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan in San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios (sub-districts) of barrio San Juan Antiguo in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is the oldest settlement within Puerto Rico and the historic colonial district of the city of San Juan. This historic district is a National Historic Landmark District and is listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places as the Old San Juan Historic District. Several historical buildings and structures, particularly La Fortaleza, the city walls, and El Morro and San Cristóbal castles, have been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list since 1983. Historically the mixed use commercial and residential real estate in the main streets like Cristo Street, Fortaleza Street (north) from Tanca Street to the Governor’s Mansion is the most valuable in the area and it has kept its value and increased steadily through several years despite the past economic turmoils.
San Juan National Historic Site in the Old San Juan section of San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a National Park Service-managed historic site which preserves and interprets the Spanish colonial-era fortification system of the city of San Juan, and features structures such as the San Felipe del Morro and San Cristóbal fortresses. This fortification system is the oldest European construction under United States jurisdiction and one of the oldest in the New World. This national historic site, together with La Fortaleza, have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.
Fortín San Juan de la Cruz, known locally as El Cañuelo, was built on Isla de Cabras in the Palo Seco barrio of the municipality of Toa Baja, at the western end of the entrance to San Juan Bay, in Puerto Rico. The square coastal fort has massive sandstone walls that date back to the 1630s. Although the U.S. Navy bombarded the fort in 1898, the fort survived. Today the fort is part of the San Juan National Historic Site, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and on the National Register of Historic Places. The fort is not open to visitors, but it can be viewed from its exterior.
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is a National Historical Park and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving four of the five Spanish frontier missions in San Antonio, Texas, USA. These outposts were established by Catholic religious orders to spread Christianity among the local natives. These missions formed part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
The Isleta de San Juan is a 3-square-mile (7.8 km2) island in the San Juan Bay in the Atlantic coast of northern Puerto Rico. Home of Old San Juan, it is the site of the oldest permanent European settlement in Puerto Rico (1521), and the second oldest European settlement in the West Indies after Santo Domingo (1496). Due its strategic location in the Caribbean during the Spanish colonization of the Americas it is home to a city wall and a number of militaristic buildings such as El Morro Castle. Today it is also home to many of Puerto Rico's government buildings such as the territory's capitol building.
The Caguana Ceremonial Ball Courts Site is an archaeological site located in Caguana, Utuado in Puerto Rico, considered to be one of the most important Pre-Columbian sites in the West Indies. The site is known for its well-preserved ceremonial ball courts and petroglyph-carved monoliths. Studies estimate the in-situ courts to be over 700 years old, built by the Taíno around 1270 AD.
The Supreme Court Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico is an architecturally significant Modern-style building and the seat of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. It was built in 1955 and listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Its modern architecture reflects changes to the Court after the establishment of Puerto Rico's new Commonwealth Status in 1952. The main façade is oriented toward the sites of the other two government's branches: the Capitol and La Fortaleza.
The following is a timeline of the history of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Paseo de La Princesa is a pedestrian promenade in San Juan, Puerto Rico located in the city's historic district. The promenade is lined with adorned lamp posts and extends for a quarter of a mile along the southern city walls of Old San Juan. It is named after the former La Princesa Prison which is now a historic building that houses the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. The site hosts street vendors, a restaurant and magnificent views of Old San Juan and its bay.
The Advanced Defense Line is a historic district consisting of four structures that formed part of the eastern defensive system of the Islet of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The City Wall of San Juan is a city wall that surrounds the western end of the Islet of San Juan, site of the historic Old San Juan district in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This defensive wall system was built between the 16th and 20th centuries to protect the city and the Bay of San Juan, a highly strategic point in the Caribbean. These walls, along with the defensive fortresses in Old San Juan, form part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site-designated San Juan National Historic Site as they are characteristic examples of the historic methods of construction used in military architecture which adapted European designs and techniques to the special conditions of the Caribbean port cities.
The Church, School, Convent and Parish House of San Agustín is a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-listed historic religious complex located in the Puerta de Tierra historic district of San Juan Antiguo in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The complex consists of the Church of St. Augustine, its adjacent Augustinian convent and the parish house. The church itself was one of the first structures to be built using only concrete in the island and for this reason it is also listed in the Inventory of Historic Churches of Puerto Rico in 1990 in addition to being listed in the NRHP since 1985. The church complex is a contributing property, and, along the Capitol of Puerto Rico, it forms part of the monumental sequence of buildings, memorials and parks along the Ponce de León Avenue that constitute the Puerta de Tierra Historic District.
The United States Custom House, also known as the San Juan Custom House, is a historic custom house located at the marina of Old San Juan in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The custom house is located at the site of the former main port of the city of San Juan, north of the former Spanish Arsenal of San Juan, and next to the Las Dársenas and Immigrants' Square and the Jose V. Toledo Federal Building and United States Courthouse. The large two-storey custom house is considered by the NRHP to be a superb example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It is most notable for its size, its elaborate terracotta-ornamented central tower and its pink-colored exterior.
Brambaugh School, officially the Dr. Martin Grove Brumbaugh School but better known today as Puerta de Tierra Public School, is an early 20th-century historic school building located in the Puerta de Tierra historic district in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The school was built in 1913 by Frank B. Hatch based on designs by architect G.R. Gilmour and named after the first Education Commissioner of Puerto Rico Martin Grove Brumbaugh. It was the first modern school to be built in the Puerta de Tierra area of San Juan Antiguo and, until the construction of the neighboring José Celso Barbosa Graded School, it was the only school in the area. Brambaugh School continues to be an important public education center for the local community today.
