Baluarte de la Soledad

The largest of the eight bastions, La Soledad was positioned to protect the Puerta de Mar and the landing stage in front of it, and its thick casemates were designed to carry the heaviest guns in the circuit, covering the anchorage where ships lay beyond the shallow harbour. Completed in the early 18th century as part of the wall finished between 1704 and 1732, it lost its flanking side walls when the ramparts were cut back during the city's expansion in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but its full seaward face and gun platform survive, making it one of the more visually complete bastions despite the loss of its connecting curtain wall. Since 1987 the bastion has housed the Museo de Arquitectura Maya, whose galleries occupy the casemates and open onto a roof terrace overlooking the Plaza de la Independencia and the harbour. The museum presents architectural fragments, carved facades, roof-comb pieces and stelae gathered from across the state, distinct from the archaeology collection at Fuerte de San Miguel because its focus is building technique and regional style rather than burial goods. Restoration adapted the vaulted chambers for museum display while keeping the exposed limestone masonry and gun embrasures visible, and the roof terrace retains its low parapet and views over the historic centre.