Fort San Pedro

Fuerza de San Pedro is an old military fort in the Philippines.

The fortress was built on the orders of then conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi and the Spanish Government in Cebu by Spanish soldiers. The fort stands today at Pierareal of Cebu City, in today's Plaza de Independencia National Park.

The fort is very well preserved and is one of the oldest colonial buildings in the Philippines. It is 22,025 square meters and is one of the smaller former Spanish forts in the archipelago. It was built in 1565 for protection against violent attacks by natives and Muslim pirates. The fort originally consisted of an earthen wall, but was later built of stone. The walls are eight feet thick, 20 feet high and the entrance has a height of 30 meters.

Today, the fortress is a museum that contains numerous well preserved artifacts from the Spanish colonial period, including Spanish-language documents, paintings, sculptures, cannons, a chapel, a dungeon, living rooms, bedrooms, classrooms and a garden. Big statue of Legazpi and Antonio Pigafetta were erected outside the fort. The museum also contains old coins that date back to the Spanish colonial period.