Monument sights in Havana
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A
Parque Central
A small but scenic haven from the belching buses and roaring taxis that ply their way along Paseo de Martí, Parque Central has long been a microcosm of daily Habana life. The park was expanded to its present size in the late 19th century after the city walls were knocked down, and the marble statue of José Martí at its center was the first of thousands to be erected in Cuba. Raised in 1905 on the 10th anniversary of the poet’s death, the monument is ringed by 28 palm trees planted to signify Martí’s birth date, January 28. Hard to miss is the group of baseball fans who linger, seemingly 24 hours a day, within ball-pitching distance of the statue’s marble base at the fa…
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B
Colina Lenin
About 1.5km from the ferry you’ll see a high metal stairway that gives access to one of only two monuments in Habana to Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, better known to his friends and enemies as Lenin. Conceived in 1924 (before onetime Soviet stooge Fidel Castro was even born) by the Socialist mayor of Regla, Antonio Borsch, the monument was created to honor Lenin’s death, and was one of the first of its kind outside the USSR. Above the monolithic image of Lenin is an olive tree planted by Bosch surrounded by seven lithe figures; unlike many other Soviet-inspired monuments you’ll find in Cuba, this one creates hope. A small exhibition on the history of Colina Lenin is in a …
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C
Fuente de la India
Don’t miss this white Carrara marble fountain, carved by Giuseppe Gaginni in 1837 for the count of Villanueva, situated on a traffic island in front of the Hotel Saratoga. It portrays a regal indigenous woman adorned with a crown of eagle’s feathers and seated on a throne surrounded by four gargoylesque dolphins. In one hand she holds a horn-shaped basket filled with fruit, in the other she holds a shield bearing the city’s coat of arms - a golden key between two mountains, a sun above the sea, three stripes emblazoned on a white background, and a royal palm.
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D
Monumento a Julio Antonio Mella
At the bottom of the Havana University steps is the Monumento a Julio Antonio Mella, a monument to the student leader who founded the first Cuban Communist Party in 1925. In 1929 the dictator Machado had Mella assassinated in Mexico City. More interesting than the monument itself are the black-and-white Mella portraits permanently mounted in the wall in the little park across San Lázaro.
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E
Monumento a Calixto García
Guarding the entrance to Calle G on the Malecón is the equestrian Monumento a Calixto García, paying homage to the valiant Cuban general who was prevented by US military leaders in Santiago de Cuba from attending the Spanish surrender in 1898. Twenty-four bronze plaques around the statue provide a history of García’s 30-year struggle for Cuban independence.
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F
Bust of Ernest Hemingway
Next to the Torreón de Cojímar and framed by a neoclassical archway is a gilded bust of Ernest Hemingway erected by the residents of Cojímar in 1962. Hemingway came here regularly in the 1940s and ‘50s and moored his boat in the nearby harbor. His friend and sea captain, Gregorio Fuentes, lived in the green-and-white house at Calle 98 until 2002, when he died aged 101.
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G
Parque Lennon
It is Havana’s third Lennon statue, a hyper-realistic study of the former Beatle, John, that graces out-of-the-way Parque Lennon in suburban Vedado, which pulls in the lion’s share of the visitors.
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