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The product is a rare Harbour Lights Event Exclusive figurine depicting El Morro, PR HL693, with a nautical theme. It is made of resin and features multicolor paint. This limited edition figurine from the late 20th century comes boxed and is an original piece from the Harbour Lights brand. Perfect for any room and all occasions, this collectible sculpture is a unique addition to any collection of nautical decor.
2006 Store Event Exclusive
HL#693 -
SIZE- 7" X 7"
INTRODUCED- March, 2006
EDITION AMOUNT- unknown
History:
Officially Castillo de San Felipe del Morro Lighthouse, also known as Port San Juan Light, Faro de Morro or Faro del Castillo del Morro or Puerto San Juan Light, is a lighthouse atop the walls of Fort San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan. It's the first lighthouse built in Puerto Rico.
The first Port San Juan Lighthouse was built in 1846 and exhibited a light using five parabolic reflectors. In 1876, a new octagonal iron tower was constructed atop the walls of the fort . The tower was hit by U.S. artillery fire in the Puerto Rican Campaign of the Spanish-American War. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1908 as an Moorish Revival style "square tower on castle". There is no public admission into the tower, but El Morro Fort, along with Fort San Cristobal and much of the city walls as part of the San Juan National Historic Site is open to the public.
In 1961, the United States Army officially retired from El Morro. The fort became a part of the National Park Service to be preserved as museums. In 1983, the Castillo and the city walls were declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. In honor of the Quincentennial of the voyages of Columbus in 1992 the exterior esplanade was cleared of palm trees that had been planted by the U.S. Army in the Fort Brooke era, and restored to the open appearance this "field-of-fire" for El Morro's cannon would have had in colonial Spanish times. Parking lots and paved roads were also removed, and the El Morro lighthouse repaired and restored to its original appearance. The 1963 film Thunder Island featured an extensive foot chase and shootout scene filmed at El Morro. El Morro was also used as a film set in the 1996 motion picture Amistad. Steven Spielberg used it to represent a fort in Sierra Leone where African slaves were saleed in 1839. African slave labor was used in addition to local labor to help build the castillo. El Morro was a defensive military fortification and a major component of San Juan's harbor defense system. Puerto Rico as such was considered by the Spanish crown as the "Key to the Antilles"; no enemy ship could navigate its waters without fear of capture.
An annual artisans festival is held at the fort every July.
The fort is home to a resident colony of around 200 stray cats that are believed to have been descended from cats introduced either during colonial times or in the mid-20th century as part of rat eradication programs. Following concerns over an increase in their population, in 2023 the National Park Service announced it would contract an animal welfare organization to remove the cats and threatened to hire a pest control agency if it were to fail. However, the plan was suspended following a lawsuit by animal welfare groups in 2024.
