Fortín de Reina Regente, Melilla, Military fortress in Melilla, Spain.
The Fortín de Reina Regente is a neo-medieval fort on the Vía Láctea road outside Melilla, near the Millán Astray barracks. Its walls are local stone and its arches solid brick; the first level has a dodecagonal plan and the second is round, topped with crenellations. The 1982 restoration replaced the original wooden floors with concrete vaults on iron beams.
Built between 1884 and 1885, the fort defended the Reina Regente area and the Cañada de Hidum on the outskirts of Melilla against attacks by Rifian fighters. It belonged to a complex of structures known as the Fuertes exteriores, the outer forts of the city's defensive ring.
The fort is listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural, Spain's heritage protection category, though the sources give no inscription date. Its name comes from the Reina Regente area it was built to defend, next to the Cañada de Hidum, and it belongs to Melilla's Fuertes Exteriores group.
The fort stands on the Carretera de la Vía Láctea, beside the Acuartelamiento Millan Astray, the base of the Tercio Gran Capitán 1º de La Legión on the outskirts of Melilla. It is listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural. The walls are local stone and the arches solid brick; the concrete vaults and iron beams date from the 1982 restoration, not the 1880s.
The 1982 restoration replaced the fort's original wooden floor structure with concrete vaults resting on iron beams. The neo-medieval exterior of local stone and solid brick arches was left in place, so the change is visible mainly inside the two-level fort.
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