Isabel Segunda · PR

El Fortin de Conde Mirasol Museum

Perched on a hill above the colorful town of Isabel Segunda, Fortín Conde de Mirasol is the last small fort ever built by the Spanish in the Americas. Constructed between 1845 and 1855 to defend Vieques against French and English incursions, this compact Spanish Colonial fortress never fully completed its outer wall—a fact that today makes its ramparts feel remarkably intimate. Restored in 1991 and administered by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, the fort now houses the Vieques Museum of Art and History, the Vieques Historic Archives, and sweeping panoramic views across the Atlantic toward the island of Culebra. Inside, permanent exhibitions trace Vieques's layered story—from indigenous Taíno artifacts to the sugar plantation era, African slavery, and the island's turbulent 20th-century politics. A rotating art gallery showcases work by local and mainland Puerto Rican artists. Outside, cannon pieces line the walls beside a small garden, and the views from the fort's heights encompass the rooftops of Isabel Segunda, the deep blue sea, and on clear days, the silhouette of the main island of Puerto Rico itself.