La Mola, Fortress Isabel II

The monumental, natural and landscape values offered by the cool enclosure, allow to enjoy different places and historical monuments that offer a very complete vision of the history of the 18th, 19th and 20th century on the island. FORTALEZA ISABEL II A strength built to defend the port of Mahón. Fronts 9-10 The maritime defense of the mouth of the port. LEAF An underground labyrinth where the dusts, warehouses and casamatas were located to defend the door of the queen. Queen's Gate An entry in honor of Isabel II, is the most majestic and best defended area of the fortress. The Hornabeque It is the first line of defense against a land attack, and where the main artillery pieces of the fortress were placed. Its enormous Plaza de Armas currently allows concerts and mass events. Corture It is the last defensive redoubt, in the event that the batch had been taken. La Caponera It is the advanced aspilleras and casamatas system to defend the pit in the batch. The cistern and decantation rafts During the tour you can visit the ingenious water collection systems that had the strength, which was supplied with rainwater collected in rafts and aljibes, and wells. The incoming 5 The incoming 5 is one of the forts that the walled front has, whose function was to defend the pit at any attempt to intrusion. It is designed isolated from the main strength, and crosses its fire with the entree 2. The pit The pit, with more than 1500 m linear, surrounds the entire defensive front outside, and is protected both by the aspilleras and casamatas of the fortress itself and by the forts of the entrants 2 and 5. The aspillerada gallery This gallery, 390 m long, is made up of 48 arches that house 48 casamatas, in each of which there are two riflers. This defensive front served to defend the pit. The princess tower Included within the Walled Front of La Fortaleza is the so-called Princess Tower, a defensive tower built by the British between 1798-1802, and defended the North Front of the Mola before a possible landing. The queen's cistern This cistern is one of the engineering works that provided drinking water to the garrison of the cool. He collected rainwater by runoff. PENITENTIARY This building, built in 1868 as a food and administration warehouse, was converted into a military prison in 1948 and used with this end until 1970. The quarries In the cool we can observe different quarries in which the stone was manually extracted, to build both the walled front and the different military buildings inside. The stone, known as "Marès", is calcareous and occupies the entire upper platform of the Peninsula. THE VICKERS BATTERY Manufactured in 1933 and mounted at the highest point of the Mola in 1934, there are two huge naval cannons located at the easternmost point of Menorca and, therefore, in Spain. Their enormous shooting power, and their 38’1 caliber made two phenomenal weapons that were able to cover a distance of 35 km. The Queen's Polvorín Restored a few years ago by the Ministry of Culture, it is one of the most spectacular buildings of the fortress. Keep the entire original wooden floor. The building is surrounded by a large wall that made containment in the face of any explosion that could have inside the Polvorín, throwing the expansive wave up.