What to See in Dominican Republic - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Alcázar de Colón, or Columbus Alcazar is the first fortified Spanish palace built in the Americas. It is located in the Dominican Republic's colonial area of Santo Domingo city, and forms part of the Ciudad Colonial UNESCO's World Heritage Site. It was built between 1511 and 1514 mostly in a Gothic and Renaissance style.

It is the only known residence of a member of the Christopher Columbus family in the New World, his first-born son Diego Columbus, whose children Juana, Isabel, Luis and Christopher were born in the palace. Diego Columbus died in Spain in 1526 but María Álvarez de Toledo, his widow, remained there until her death in 1549. Three generations of the Columbus family inhabited the residence, possibly until the late 16th century.

The Tapestry collection (spanning from the 15th to 17th centuries) is particularly important and unique in the Caribbean, and includes pieces produced by the Flemish Van Den Hecke family from cartouches created by Charles Le Brun. The Alcázar is the most visited museum in Santo Domingo.^[1]

Stadium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Quisqueya Stadium Juan Marichal is a baseball stadium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It is often used as a multi-use stadium. Football club Atlético Pantoja used the venue for their inaugural Caribbean football championship match. The Quisqueya holds about 14,469 people after its renovation. The Dominican League of Baseball Authority is in charge of its management.

It is the only stadium in the Caribbean region to host two different baseball teams, Tigres del Licey (Licey Tigers) and Leones del Escogido (Chosen One Lions). Its field dimensions are 335 feet at the foul poles, 383 feet at the power alleys, and 411 feet at center field. It was built in 1955 as Estadio Trujillo, during the Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina dictatorship, taking the Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium as the design base.

The stadium was renamed Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, after the former Major League Baseball player and Hall of Famer Juan Marichal.^[2]

Museum in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Fortaleza San Felipe is a historic Spanish fortress located in the north of Dominican Republic in the province of Puerto Plata. Is also known as El Morro de San Felipe and was used to protect the City of Puerto Plata from pirates and corsairs. It is located on a hill at the Puntilla Del Malecón, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean; its strategic location protected the entrance to the city's seaport. The construction of the fort was commissioned by King Felipe II of Spain in 1564, and it was completed in 1577 by Don Rengifo de Angulo, the fort's mayor.

Today, the Fortaleza San Felipe serves as a museum showcasing the important role it has played in the history of Puerto Plata, and the Dominican Republic. The Fortaleza houses military artifacts from the 18th and 19th centuries.^[4]

The St. James the Apostle Cathedral Also Santiago de los Caballeros Cathedral Is the name that receives a Catholic temple that is located in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros the capital of the province of Santiago to the north of the island Hispaniola and the Caribbean country of Dominican Republic. It was baptized thus in honor of St. James the Greater, the disciple of Jesus, the son of Shebedeus and of Salome.

It began as a parochial church that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1842. The present structure was built between 1868 and 1894 and consecrated in 1895. It suffered delays in its construction due to lack of funds. It was briefly used as a fortress in the so-called "war of restoration" (Guerra de Restauración).

The eclectic style temple follows the Roman or Latin rite and is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros (Archidioecesis Sancti Iacobi Equitum) which was created as a diocese in 1953 by Pope Pius XII through the bull Si magna et excelsa and Elevated to its current status through the bull "Solicitam sane curam" of 1994 by Pope John Paul II.

It is under the pastoral responsibility of Archbishop Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón Martínez.^[6]

Cathedral in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. The Cathedral of St. Philip the Apostle in Puerto Plata Also known as Puerto Plata Cathedral, and as St. Philip the Apostle Cathedral is a cathedral of the Catholic Church that is located in Calle José del Carmen Ariza 36 of the city of Puerto Plata part of the province of the same name to the north of the island of Hispaniola and the Caribbean country of the Dominican Republic, It should not be confused with other cathedrals of the same name in Chile, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

The earlier wooden church was destroyed by a fire in 1863 during the "Dominican War of Restoration" (Guerra de Restauración). Construction of the present church began in 1870 under Pedro Tomás de Mena. Reconstruction of the church began in 1929 and was completed in 1956. The reconstruction took longer than expected due to an earthquake in 1946. In 2003 yet another earthquake damaged the structure, which was fully repaired by 2008.

The cathedral, built in a modern Victorian style, and is the mother (or main church) of the Diocese of Puerto Plata (Dioecesis Portus Argentarii) which was created by the then Pope John Paul II in 1996 through the papal bull "Venerabilis Frater" from territory formerly belonging to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros.

It is under the pastoral responsibility of Bishop Julio César Corniel Amaro.^[7]