A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates for access to the city. From ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China, Walls of Benin, Hadrian's Wall, Anastasian Wall, and the Atlantic Wall, which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial boundaries. In mountainous terrain, defensive walls such as letzis were used in combination with castles to seal valleys from potential attack. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced.
A fortification is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere.
Intramuros, is the 0.67-square-kilometer (0.26 sq mi) historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila.
Fort Santiago, built in 1571, is a citadel built by Spanish navigator and governor Miguel López de Legazpi for the newly established city of Manila in the Philippines. The defense fortress is located in Intramuros, the walled city of Manila.
The Church of Saint Augustine, also known as the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation and Cincture or the Immaculate Conception Parish, is a Roman Catholic church under the auspices of the Order of Saint Augustine located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila, Philippines. Completed in 1607, it is the oldest stone church in the country.
Fort San Pedro is a military defense structure in Cebu, Philippines, built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located in the area now called Plaza Independencia, in the pier area of the city. The original fort was made of wood and built after the arrival of Legazpi and his expedition. In the early 17th century a stone fort was built to repel Muslim raiders. Today's structure dates from 1738 and is the oldest triangular bastion fort in the country. It served as the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. During the Philippine Revolution at the end of the 19th century, it was attacked and taken by Filipino revolutionaries, who used it as a stronghold.
Santiago de Vera was a native of Alcalá de Henares, Spain and the sixth Spanish governor of the Philippines, from May 16, 1584, until May 1590.
Hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty have been created worldwide. The original Statue of Liberty, designed by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, is 151 feet tall and stands on a pedestal that is 154 feet tall, making the height of the entire sculpture 305 feet.
Raigad, situated in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India, is a hill fort located in the town of Mahad. It is one of the strongest fortresses on the Deccan Plateau and was historically referred to as Rairee or Rairy fort.
The gates of Intramuros refer to the original eight gates of the Walled City of Intramuros in Manila, built during the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines. The gates are called by the original Spanish word for "gate", puerta.
The Spanish fortifications of the Philippines, or fuerzas, are strongholds constructed by Filipinos and Spaniards primarily for protection against local and foreign aggressors during the Spanish colonial period, and during the subsequent American and Japanese occupations. Structures built included fortresses, watchtowers, and bastions. Many are badly damaged, either due to old age or past conflicts. Currently, there are initiatives for restorations of all forts, beginning when the Baluarte Luna of La Union and the Intramuros of Manila were restored in the 2010s. In 2013, a typhoon and earthquake hit Central Visayas and damaged numerous Spanish fortifications, leading to the largest restoration activity for fortifications in Philippine history.
The Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church, also known as Guadalupe Church, is a Baroque Roman Catholic church in Makati City, Philippines. The parish church and its adjacent monastery are currently administered by the Augustinian friars of the Province of Santo Niño de Cebu. The territory of the parish covers San Carlos Seminary, the major seminary of the Archdiocese of Manila and Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary. The church also has an adjacent seminary, the Monasterio de Guadalupe, which admits young professionals for priestly and religious vocation. The current parish priest is Danilo M. Carido.
La Puerta del Conde was the main entrance to the fortified city of Santo Domingo, named to honor Governor Captain-General Bernardino de Meneses Bracamonte y Zapata, 1st Count of Peñalva, who during his tenure saved the city from a siege in 1655 by Englishmen General Robert Venables and Admiral William Penn amid the Third Anglo-Spanish War.
San Ignacio Church in Intramuros, Manila, Philippines, was designed for the Jesuits by architect Félix Roxas Sr., and completed in 1899. It was known as their "Golden Dream" but was destroyed during World War II. Its interiors, embellished with carvings, had been designed by Isabelo Tampinco.
Gobindgarh Fort is a historic military fort located in the center of the city of Amritsar in the Indian state of Punjab. The Fort was until recently occupied by the Indian Army, but was opened to the public on 10 February 2017. Today the fort is being developed as a museum and theme park, as a repository of Punjab’s history.
Plaza Mexico is a historic riverside square in Manila, Philippines, located at the west end of Magallanes Drive and Riverside Drive in Intramuros bordering the Pasig River in the north. It is surrounded by the Aduana Building on the south, the Bureau of Immigration Building on the east and the ruins of the Bastión de Maestranza and Puerta de Almacenes on the west. The Pasig River Ferry has a station also named Plaza Mexico located northeast of the square behind the Immigration building. The square was named Plaza Mexico in 1964 to commemorate the 4th centenary of the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi and Andres de Urdaneta from New Spain (Mexico) and the historic Manila-Acapulco galleon trade relations between the two nations that lasted 250 years.
The Fort of San Diego, formerly also known as the Fort of San Carlos is a star fort in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. It was built by the Spanish Empire, and it was one of the most important Spanish fortifications along the Pacific coast. The fort was first built in the 17th century, but was completely rebuilt in the 18th century. Today, it is an important landmark in Acapulco, and it is open to the public as the Acapulco Historic Museum.
The 11th World Scout Jamboree Memorial Rotonda, also known as the Boy Scout Circle, is a roundabout in Quezon City, Metro Manila, the Philippines. Located at the intersection between Timog and Tomas Morato Avenues, it serves as the boundary between Barangays South Triangle, Laging Handa and Sacred Heart.
The Fuerte de la Concepción y del Triunfo, also known as Fuerte de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción del Triunfo, Fort of Misamis, and Triunfo Fort, is a citadel first built by Spanish Jesuit priest and commander José Ducos as a Spanish fortress in the old town of Misamis in the island of Mindanao.
