Basic Orientation for Visitors to the Fort
documento de trabajo
R.Rabin septiembre, 1997
Hello. Welcome to the Museum Fort Count Mirasol, my name is Mario/Lucy, I am a guide here
at the museum. This is a project of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. The Fort is a
historic monument, built between 1845 and 1855 under orders of the Count of Mirasol, the
then Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico. The fort was built to defend against possible
attempts by the British or the Danish, from their positions in the nearby islands, to
colonize on Vieques, or "Crab Island" as the British called it.
The Fort was never attacked, never involved in battle. The building was used to house the
Spanish troops and as a jail. During the second half of the nineteenth century, fugitive
and rebellious slaves from Vieques sugar plantations were jailed here; other sugar cane
workers and political prisoners - people fighting for Puerto Rico's independence against
Spain were exiled from the main island and jailed in the Fort. The Fort was used as
a the municipal jail until the 1940's when it was finally abandoned. Closed for decades,
the building fell into terrible conditions until pressure from the Vieques Cultural Center
forced the Institute of Puerto Rican culture to carry out a major restoration and the
preparation of the museum between 1989 and 1991. The building is 90 to 95 per
cent original. The interior and exterior walls are made of the original materials as are
the brick floors. All of the green, hardwood beams - ausubo; a very dense and durable
Puerto Rican hardwood - are the original in all the ceilings of the building. The
outer defensive walls are also original, from the same period; these walls were never
completed.
To help with the conservation and preservation of our museum we ask everyone who enters to
be especially careful of the showcases, to not touch or lean up against them because they
are very fragile. No food or beverages are allowed in the building. You may take pictures
in the Fort, but we do ask you not to take pictures inside the exhibition rooms. (The
flash is very damaging to old photos, antique documents, works of art; also people who
have loaned or donated artwork or personal documents and have asked us to avoid the
reproduction of their materials.) All of the exhibits have their written
explanations, mostly in Spanish. You will find English language information sheets in each
room to give you a general idea about the exhibits.
On the way out is the donation box. Donations are our major source of operating funds so
we ask for whatever help you can give. There is some English language literature on the
table you make take as well.
Notes on Vieques Historic Process
This room is named in honor of Teophile Jacques Joseph Marie Le Guillou, first Military
and Political Governor of the Spanish Isle of Vieques (1832-1843). The Tano and Spanish
weapons are replicas produced by Puerto Rican and Iberian artisans. The flags in the room
represent the diverse European influence in Vieques' history: British, Danish, French,
Spanish. The Venezuelan flag honors the visit of Simn Bolvar, Great Liberator of the
Amricas, to Vieques in 1816. The single star flag of Puerto Rico and the flag of Vieques
(blue, white and green with the Fort in the center) are at the end of the room. The sugar
industry was the lifeblood of Vieques' economy for more a century. From the date of the
official establishment of the Spanish colony of Vieques (1844) until the military
expropriation of the Playa Grande sugar mill (1941), dozens of sugar plantations and
later, four large scale sugar factories helped create a prosperous economy. Hundreds of
French planters, from the islands of Guadalupe and Martinique, moved to Vieques, with
permission from the Spanish government, early in the nineteenth century. They brought
hundreds of African slaves, who, together with English-speaking free workers from the
British Virgin Islands and Creole Puerto Rican workers, contributed to Vieques' social and
economic development. Thousands of workers were brought in from St. Thomas, Saint Croix,
St. Kitts-Nevis, Antigua, Tortola and from several towns in southeast Puerto Rico, to work
the sugar fields, central factories, railroads, docks and other elements of Vieques' sugar
industry. In the first two decades of the 20th century four sugar mills - Esperanza, Santa
Mara, Arkadia and Playa Grande - ground thousands of tons of sugar cane. By 1940, only
the Playa Grande, the largest and most productive mill, remained. Early in that decade the
U.S. Navy began a process of expropriations that led to Navy ownership of 72% of Vieques
territory in 1949. The arrival of the Navy put the last nail in the coffin of an already
dying sugar industry. Navy control of 2/3 of the island's natural resources and several
attempts by the military to take over all of Vieques, contribute to the socio-economic
crisis that plagues the Island to this day.
El Museo
El Museo de Arte e Historia de Vieques en la segunda planta del Fortn consiste de tres
salas de exhibiciones permanentes que ofrecen al visitante una mirada hacia el pasado
viequense. Una sala de Artes Plsticas provee espacio para exhibiciones itinerantes de
artesana, dibujo, fotografa, pintura, tanto de artistas locales como de la Isla Grande
de Puerto Rico. Dos salas de conferencia y de exhibiciones especiales han sido habilitados
en el edificio para uso de las entidades culturales-educativas de Vieques.
La Sala de Culturas Indgenas "Cacimar y Yaureibo," nombrada por los ltimos
caciques tanos viequenses, incluye muestras de material arqueolgico de Vieques
representativo de los diversos grupos culturales que habitaron la Isla. Fotografas,
serigrafas y texto informan sobre la vida de los primeros pobladores de Biek.
En la Sala de Procesos Histricos se presenta la historia de la Isla Nena desde la
conquista espaola en 1514 hasta el presente. Armas indgenas y espaolas del siglo
XVI, artefactos del periodo colonial espaol y de principios de este siglo, mapas y otras
grficas describen cinco siglos de historia de Vieques. Un recinto dedicado a la visita
de Simn Bolvar a Vieques (1816) y al General fajardeo Antonio Valero y una gran
coleccin de mapas britnicos, daneses, espaoles, franceses y estadounidenses de los
siglos XVII al XX forman otras exhibiciones de la Sala de Procesos Histricos. Una
seccin sobre la presencia de la Marina de Guerra de Estados Unidos en la Isla, su
control sobre 3/4 partes del territorio y la lucha del pueblo viequense por el rescate de
sus tierras terminan esta sala.
La Sala del Patrimonio Arquitectnico de Vieques ofrece un panorama
arquitectnica-histrica del desarrollo urbano de la Isla. Fotografas, planos
antiguos, materiales de construccin, herramientas y otros artefactos relacionados con la
arquitectura histrica del pueblo de Isabel Segunda se encuentran en las vitrinas y
exhibiciones de paredes. Una representacin fotogrfica con texto describe el
proceso de remodelacin del Fortn. Arquitectura funeraria, grficas relativos a los
dos faros espaoles de Vieques y materiales recopilados de las ruinas de las centrales
azucareras de de la Isla tambin se incluyen en esta parte del museo.
Una cuarta sala se reserva para exhibiciones itinerantes de Artes Plsticas. Artesana
puertorriquea, esculturas, fotografas, pinturas, serigrafas y otros medios
artsticos se exhiben aqu. Hasta junio de 1998 estar la exhibicin de pintura
(acrlico y medio mixto), BORIKEN, de la artista puertorriquea, Gloria Florit, que
consta de treinta y tres piezas representativas de la arqueologa viequense.
En la Sala de Exposiciones Especiales de la primera planta del Fuerte, se presenta hasta
julio de este ao la exhibicin de la Universidad de Puerto Rico-Recinto de Ro
Piedras: "El Archipilago Imperial". Basada en los dos tomos de "Our
Islands and their People", publicados en 1899 por un equipo de fotgrafos y
escritores estadounidenses, la exhibicin ofrece una mirada crtica al acercamiento de
estos hacia las nuevas "posesiones" de Puerto Rico, Cuba, las Filipinas y
Hawai'i.
Adems del museo y salas de conferencias, el Fuerte alberga la oficina del Centro
Cultural Yaureibo y el Archivo Histrico de Vieques. El Archivo es un centro de
investigaciones socio-histrica sobre Vieques que contiene la ms amplia coleccin de
documentos, libros, audio-visuales y otros materiales para el estudio de la Isla Nena.
Desde la inauguracin del Museo en 1991, decenas de miles de personas, tanto de Vieques
como de la Isla Grande, Islas Vrgenes, Estados Unidos y Europa, han visitado este
monumento histrico de la Isla Nena. Grupos estudiantiles reciben en el Fortn una
orientacin completa sobre la historia-arquitectnica del edificio, la historia de
Vieques y una visita guiada a travs del Museo.
(Basada en un artculo publicado en PATRIMONIO, de la Oficina Estatal de
Preservacin Histrica en 1993. Revisado, mayo de 1998)
Para ms informacin debes visitar el Archivo Histrico de Vieques en el Museo Fuerte
Conde de Mirasol, Vieques. (809) 741-1717 o 741-8651
