One in a quartet of forts defending Havana harbor, La Punta was designed by the Italian military engineer Giovanni Bautista Antonelli and built between 1589 and 1600. During the colonial era a chain was stretched 250m to the castle of El Morro every night to close the harbor mouth to shipping.
The castle's museum displays artifacts from sunken Spanish treasure fleets, a collection of model ships and information on the slave trade.
