Forte de Santa Maria: A Seventeenth-Century Fort in Salvador, Brazil
Site at a Glance
- Country
- Brazil
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Portuguese
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page4 sections
History
Forte de Santa Maria is a fort in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, founded in 1696.
Imperial-era survival
An imperial coat of arms at the fort’s entrance survived the proclamation of the Brazilian Republic, which ended imperial government and established a republic.
Heritage protection and federal ownership
In 1938, Brazil’s National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN), the federal agency responsible for protecting historic and artistic heritage, listed the fort as a historic structure and part of the country’s National Historic Heritage.
Brazil’s 1988 Constitution classifies the fort as a military installation owned by the Brazilian Armed Forces. In 2001, the Navy transferred it to the Secretariat of Patrimony of the Union (SPU), the agency that administers federal property. An attempt by a nonprofit organization to manage the fort was unsuccessful. In 2020, the SPU said it could not maintain the property and hoped to return it to the Navy.
Remains
The fort retains much of its original seventeenth-century structure. Its seven-sided plan is reached by a narrow embankment, and broad stone curtain walls, defensive walls forming part of a fortification, make up much of its surviving fabric. An imperial coat of arms is positioned at the entrance. Tiles cover the south facade of the Commandant’s House, in a style common in colonial-era Salvador. The walls are damaged and unpainted, and the fort is in disrepair.
