Castle of Sant Nicolau

Monuments | Ciutadella

In the port of Ciutadella, during the period of Spanish rule in the late seventeenth century before the English occupied the island, Castell de Sant Nicalau was built to defend the mouth of the harbour. Today there are two defence towers along the Ciutadella coast: Castell de Sant Nicolau in the port protecting the harbour and Castell de Sa Caleta. The former dates from an earlier period than the other eighteenth-century defence towers and was built shortly after the city walls were reinforced. The French disembarkation of 1756, when they crossed the island to lay siege to Fort San Felipe del Morro, explains the importance of the defence towers in the port. During English rule, security measures were reinforced with the construction of Castellar de Sa Caleta, an anchorage close by. Castell de Sant Nicolau has only one entryway, a rectangular door with Baroque-style decorations and bas-relief figures that represent the Crown of Aragon's coat of arms flanked by other, smaller coats of arms attributed to Menorca's Universidad General and the island's governor at the time. A winding staircase close to the door leads to the upper storey and continues to the top of a small watchtower, which possibly maintained visual communication with the watchtowers of Artruix and Bajolí. An eight-metre wide, two-metre deep moat with a working drawbridge in front of the door surrounds Castell de Sant Nicolau. Nowadays, Castell de Sant Nicolau is open to the public in the tourist season and group visits can be arranged in winter by contacting the Ciutadella Town Hall in Menorca.