Arq. Victor Hugo Mori
IPHAN - SP

Santo Amaro da Barra Grande (1583) unlike the other fortresses wasn't only a bastion against the foreign enemies. It was, above all, a warning symbol of the incontestable dominion of Felipe of Spain to São Vicente inhabitants and to the restoration of the portuguese throne. In a paradox, part of this military personnel would be integrated to the local society like the cases of the commander of the fortress and the Sevilha citizen Bartolomeu Bueno. The commandant Miranda got married with captain Jeronimo Leitão' s daughter and, Bartolomeu Bueno was patriarch of a bandeirantes (member of expeditions called Bandeiras) family like his sons Jeronimo and Amador Bueno.

This fortress also have historical relationship with the most important existing fortifications in the world: the Havana's defensive system, Cartagena's battlement and the fortresses from San Filipe, and from Alicante, in Spain, were projected by the same architect Juan Bautista Antonelli, that worked here under the rules of Felipe II.


Capa - Projecto de Defeza do Porto de Santos, de Erico A Oliveira, c. 1897, Arquivo Histórico do Exército, RJ e cartela de selo emitido pelos CORREIOS em homenagem a Fortaleza de Santo Amaro, 1999.