FORT PILAR

It is located just past the town hall. It was the center of Spanish investigations when the town was colonized, and later served as protection for the inhabitants of the town and surrounding islands against pirate invasion and Moro attacks. Built in 1635 by the Spanish authorities, with the help of engineer and Jesuit priest Melchor de Vera, it was abandoned thirty years later before being rebuilt in 1718. Today, Fort Pilar has been declared a national monument and houses a regional branch of the National Museum of the Philippines.