Architectural, Cultural sights in Cuba
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Castillo de la Real Fuerza
The oldest existing fort in the Americas, the Castillo de Real Fuerza was built between 1558 and 1577 on the site of an earlier fort destroyed by French privateers in 1555. The west tower is crowned by a copy of a famous bronze weather vane called La Giraldilla; the original was cast in Habana in 1632 by Jerónimo Martínez Pinzón and is popularly believed to be of Doña Inés de Bobadilla, the wife of gold-explorer Hernando de Soto. It is now kept in the Museo de la Ciudad, and the figure also appears on the Havana Club rum label. For the first 200 years of its existence, the Castillo was the residence of the Spanish captains general, until they finally got around to co…
reviewed
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Iglesia Y Convento de Santa Clara
This huge construction - which covers four city blocks - was the first nunnery in Habana. Built from 1638 to 1643, it was founded by nuns from Cartagena de Indias. Look out for the marvelous beamed ceiling in the nave, and the handsome columns and pleasing arches in the main cloister. Among the many residences here is the Casa del Marino (Sailor’s House), in the second cloister. According to records, this house (the current residence of academics) was built by a pirate-turned-respectable-shipowner who gave the building to his devout daughter. Ceasing to be a convent in 1920, the Santa Clara became the Ministry of Public Works. Today the team in charge of the restoration o…
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Iglesia Y Monasterio de San Francisco de Asís
Originally constructed as a church in 1608 and rebuilt in the baroque style from 1719 to 1738, the Iglesia San Francisco de Asís was taken over by the Spanish state in 1841 as part of a political move against the powerful religious orders of the day. It ceased to be a consecrated church, and later served as a warehouse and post office. Protected from the public gaze are three former cloisters, spacious courtyards and more than 100 tiny apartments for members of the monastery. Today the church serves as a concert hall, featuring classical, chamber and choral music. The Museo de Arte Religioso (unguided/guided CUC$2/3; open 9am to 6pm) is replete with religious paintings, …
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Museo de Ambiente Histórico Cubano
In the Parque Céspedes's northwestern corner lies the Casa de Diego Velázquez. Dating from 1522, this is the oldest house still standing in Cuba. Restored in the late 1960s, the Andalusian-style facade (you'll know it by its enclosed balcony with the fine, Moorish-style woodwork) was restored in the late 1960s, and opened in 1970 as the Museo de Ambiente Histórico Cubano.
The ground floor was originally a trading-house and gold foundry, while the upstairs was the personal residence of Velázquez himself.
Today, rooms display period furnishings and decoration from the 16th to 19th centuries. Visitors are also taken through an adjacent neoclassical house dating from the 1…
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Casa de Diego Velázquez
In the northwestern corner of Parque Céspedes lies the Casa de Diego Velázquez. The oldest house still standing in Cuba, this early colonial abode dating from 1522 was the official residence of the island’s first governor. Restored in the late 1960s, the Andalusian-style facade with fine, wooden lattice windows was inaugurated in 1970 as the Museo de Ambiente Histórico Cubano. The ground floor was originally a trading house and gold foundry, while the upstairs was where Velázquez lived. Today, rooms display period furnishings and decoration from the 16th to 19th centuries. Visitors are also taken through an adjacent 19th-century neoclassical house.
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Casa de Lombillo
This resplendent casa (house) is one of Habana’s oldest, dating from 1741, although there has been a building on this site since 1618. Named after one of its 18th-century owners, the count of Lombillo, who made his fortune in the slave trade, the building is most notable for its exquisite interior balconies and stately Tuscan-style columns. During the mid-19th century the palace served as Habana’s main post office (it was the city’s first), and a stone-mask mailbox in one of the outside walls is still in use. In late 2000, the Casa de Lombillo was gutted and restored. It now functions as the main office for the city historian, Eusebio Leal Spengler.
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Casa Natal de José María de Heredia
The Casa Natal de José María de Heredia contains a small museum illustrating the life of one of Cuba’s greatest Romantic poets (1803–39) and the man after whom the street is named. Heredia’s most notable work, Ode to Niagara, is inscribed on the wall outside, and attempts to parallel the beauty of Canada’s Niagara Falls with his personal feelings of loss about his homeland. In common with many Cuban independence advocates, Heredia was forced into exile, dying in Mexico in 1839.
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Casa de la Obra Pía
The Casa de la Obra Pía is a typical Havana aristocratic residence originally built in 1665 and rebuilt in 1780. Baroque decoration – including an intricate portico made in Cádiz, Spain – covers the exterior facade. In addition to its historical value, the house today also contains one of the City Historian’s most commendable social projects, a sewing and needlecraft cooperative that has a workshop inside and a small shop selling clothes and textiles on Calle Mercaderes.
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Iglesia del Santo Angel Custodio
Originally constructed in 1695, this church was pounded by a ferocious hurricane in 1846 after which it was entirely rebuilt in neo-Gothic style. Among the notable historical and literary figures that have passed through its handsome doors are 19th-century Cuban novelist Cirilo Villaverde, who set the main scene of his novel Cecilia Valdés here, as well as Félix Varela and José Martí, who were both baptized in the church in 1788 and 1853 respectively.
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Casa de Estrada Palma
In 1835, Cuba’s first postindependence president, Tomás Estrada Palma, was born here. A one-time friend of José Martí, Estrada Palma was disgraced after the Revolution for his perceived complicity with the US over the Platt Amendment. His birth house is now the seat of Uneac (Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba; National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists), but you’ll find little about the famous former occupant inside.
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Casa Natal de Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
The birthplace of the ‘father of the motherlands,’ Casa Natal de Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, is on the north side of the park. Born here on April 18, 1819, Céspedes spent the first 12 years of his life in this residence, and the Céspedes memorabilia inside is complemented by a collection of period furniture. It’s notable architecturally as the only two-story colonial house remaining in Bayamo and was one of the few buildings to survive the 1869 fire.
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Casa de Los Condes de Jaruco
With its wide gallery, this house is said to be typical of aristocratic residences built around 1737. Although the house is named after the counts of Jaruco, its most famous resident was María Mercedes de Santa Cruz y Cárdenas, who was born in the mansion and went on to become one of the city’s early literary greats. Today the building houses La Casona Centro de Arte.
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Casa Museo de Frank y Josué País
A home-turned-museum is the Casa Museo de Frank y Josué País, about five blocks southeast of Museo-Casa Natal de Antonio Maceo. Integral to the success of the Revolution, the young País brothers organized the underground section of the M-26-7 in Santiago de Cuba until Frank’s murder by the police on July 30, 1957. The exhibits tell the story.
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Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula
The Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula is one of Havana’s most attractive churches. Fully restored in 2000, it is all that remains of the San Francisco de Paula women’s hospital from the mid-1700s. Lit up at night for concerts, the stained glass, heavy cupola and baroque facade are romantic and inviting.
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Quinta de los Molinos
Quinta de los Molinos is the former stately residence of General Máximo Gómez, which sits amid lush botanical gardens on land that once belonged to Havana University. The residence and grounds were halfway through an extensive and long-winded renovation project at the time of writing.
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Ayuntamiento
The neoclassical Ayuntamiento was erected in the 1950s using a design from 1783 and was once the site of Hernán Cortés’ mayoral office. Fidel Castro appeared on the balcony of the present building on the night of January 2, 1959, trumpeting the Revolution’s triumph.
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Iglesia y Convento de Nuestra Señora de Belén
Completed in 1718 and run by nuns from the Order of Bethlehem and (later) the Jesuits, today the Iglesia y Convento de Nuestra Señora de Belén serves as a convalescent home for senior citizens funded by the City Historian’s office.
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Centro Gallego
It might look unmistakably neobaroque, but the ornate Centro Gallego was erected as a Galician social club between 1907 and 1914. The Centro was built around the existing Teatro Tacón, which opened in 1838 with five masked Carnaval dances.
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Fidel Castro house
Across the street from the Museo de la Lucha Clandestina is the house where Fidel Castro lived from 1931 to 1933 while a student in Santiago de Cuba. On the next corner is a series of carnival murals facing a small park.
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Archivo Histórico
The city’s Archivo Histórico, is in the former residence of local poet José Jacinto Milanés (1814–63). A bronze statue of Milanés stands on the Plaza de la Iglesia.
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Museo de Pintura Mural
Museo de Pintura Mural exhibits some beautifully restored original frescoes in the Casa del Mayorazgo de Recio, popularly considered to be Havana’s oldest surviving house.
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Casa Oswaldo Guayasamín
Casa Oswaldo Guayasamín is an old studio and now a museum of the great Ecuadorian artist who painted Fidel in numerous poses.
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Museo Casa Natal de Serafín Sánchez
Birthplace of Serafín Sánchez - a local patriot who participated in both wars of independence and went down fighting in November 1896.
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Casa de las Religiones Populares
The Casa de las Religiones Populares has a large, if haphazard, collection of all things Santería.
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Iglesia de Santa Elvira
The tiny colonial-style Iglesia de Santa Elvira resembles a displaced alpine chapel.
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