Incredible Mexican Castles

Casa Colomos is located in Guadalajara and used to be the water control center for Mexico City. The casa features medieval-style bridges stretching over narrow walkways. There is a Japanese-style garden. Casa Colomos Arcos Vallarta, also known as El Castillo, is a cultural center that opened its doors in 1902. It offers art exhibitions and courses for those interested in the arts.

Castillo de Nuevo Apolonia is a site for those interested in the history of Mexican culture. It is located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas in El Mante in northeastern Mexico. Today the castle is used as a venue for social events or recording music videos. It is located on a ranch with orange trees.

Castillo Ortega-Douglas is located in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes. (pictured above) It is a castle-like building that was once the residence of Edmundo Ortega Douglas, whose grandfather was a Scottish immigrant. The castle has a resemblance to the medieval castles in Scotland with a stained glass window, a moat, and a drawbridge along with turrets and battlements.

Forteleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña is an 18th-century fortress complex and the third largest in the US. It is located on the eastern side of the harbor entrance in Havana, Cuba. The fort rises above a hilltop and is part of the Old Havana World Heritage Site.

Forteleza de San Juan de Ulúa is a fortress in Veracruz in eastern Mexico. The Spanish Empire built the fortress with stone. The complex has prisons and fortresses and a former palace. It is situated on the Isle of San Juan de Ulúa in the Gulf of Mexico. It was featured in the 1984 movie “Romancing the Stone.”

Fort San Felipe was built in the 18th century by the governor of Yucatan, Antonio de Figueroa y Silvia, to protect the city from being raided by the pirates going through Laguna de los 7 Colores. The fort is built as a quadrangular structure built of stone and surrounded by a moat (now converted into a garden with figures of Spanish and Mayan people) with a drawbridge at the central entrance. Fort San Felipe has four bastions, one at each corner—San Antonio, Santa Ana, San Joaquin, and San Jose. It has been declared a National Historic Landmark. The Piracy Museum is dedicated to the history of the region and features archaeological Mayan and colonial items.

The Chapultepec Castle has stood in Mexico City since the 18th century. At one time it was the home of President Francisco I. Madero, who served from 1911 to 1913. Other presidents who lived here in the 1900s were Presidents Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon, Plutarco Elias Calles, and Emilio Portes. Chapultepec Castle became home to the Museum of National History in 1939. There are twelve exhibit halls.

The Palacio de Los Estucos is located in Menda, Mexico. It is a popular stop on Maya history tours. The castle is on the Northern Yucatan Peninsula. The building has four bays, with three doors on the north facade that were later converted into windows. The ruins of the Stucco Palace are very impressive. Palacio de los Estucos features two rows with battlements as motifs. They are adorned in different paint colors and with anthropomorphic items modeled in stucco.

Palacio Municipal de Monterrey, or Monterrey City Hall, is a building constructed of steel and concrete. It is located in the southern end of the Macroplaza in Monterrey, the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León.

The palacio features a statue of Ignacio Zaragoza, a Mexican political and military leader, riding a horse. The building serves as the city hall of Monterrey and one of the city’s famous landmarks. There is also a small museum.

Poliforum Mier y Pesado is set on manicured grounds east of Orizaba. At one time it served as an asylum. The palatial-style building dates back to 1944. Today it houses exhibitions, among them those dedicated to traditional costumes throughout Mexico and the children’s song composer Francisco Gabilonder Soler, born in the city of Orizaba. In 2014 it was dedicated as a National Artistic Monument.