Fábrica de Arte Cubano (F.A.C)

Situada entre las céntricas calles 11 y 26, la Fábrica de Arte Cubano (F.A.C) es una de las propuestas culturales y nocturnas más interesantes de La Habana.

Castle of the Royal Force in Old Havana

 Other place in old Havana.  It´s a beatifull edification, I love it!!

In 1540 the general captain ordered the building of a fortress in order to stop the attacks of French and English pirates and corsairs against the village. That pioneer fortress in the island, “La Fuerza”, was built 300 m. from here closer to the harbours entrance and totally made of wood and some stones. It wasn’t very useful to stop the famous French pirate Jaques de Sores  in 1555 and the Governor Francisco Calona decided to built this new one “La Real Fuerza” 12 years latter (1577).

As well as it was the safest place in the village it was used to keep the gold and silver brought by the fleets on theirs way to Spain as well as the governor’s residence. Latter on in 1630 the tower with a human shaped weather vane next to it was added, similar to the Spanish one named “La Giralda” in Sevilla, as a regard to the many sailors that came from that region. The tower has on the top a replica of the bronze sculpture that once served as a weather vane, called “La Giraldilla”. The original one was made by the Spanish blacksmith Gerónimo Martín Pinzón and it is considered the first sculpture made in Cuba. is the symbol of the city and you can find it on the label of Havana Club. 

There is a legend about the woman that inspired it.

She was the wife of Hernando de Soto island´s governor during 1540. Hernando decided to conquer Florida and left his wife “Inés de Bobadilla” as stand-in governor but he never returned to Cuba so according to stories she died longing for her love

By the time the metropolis lost the control over the island, the building had several uses, during the U.S. occupation in 1898 it served as: the headquarters of the rural guard, and latter it was used as the national archive. After the revolution’s triumph it was turned in to The Museum of Arms. Nowadays it houses a museum of artistic ceramics

San Francisco de Asis square a wonderfull place in Old Havana

I love this place, The SanFrancisco de Asis square, is the second oldest in the city, it was named after the Franciscan church and convent San Francis of Assisi. It dates back to the XVII c. (1629) and it spontaneously became the first commercial place in the village.

Facing Havana harbor, the breezy Plaza de San Francisco de Asís first grew up in the 16th century when Spanish galleons stopped by at the quayside on their passage through the Indies to Spain. A market took root in the 1500s, followed by a church in 1608, though when the pious monks complained of too much noise the market was moved a few blocks south to Plaza Vieja.

Called San Francisco because of the convent next to it, this square was conceived in 1628, with the objective of supplying water to the ships trading with the metropolis. For many years it also served to stockpile the goods arriving from the harbor. Chronicles of the time say that the square had a busy commercial life. The people, in humble carts or afoot, sold and bought a variety of goods. It’s important to know that through this place the Spanish immigrants arrived to Cuba. Among the houses built around the plaza, as was already usual, the house of the Arostegui family, residence of the Captain Generals until the completion of the City Hall at the end of the 18th century, was erected.

The Plaza de San Francisco underwent a full restoration in the late 1990s and is most notable for its uneven cobblestones and the white marble Fuente de los Leones (Fountain of Lions) carved by the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Gaginni in 1836. A modern statue outside the square's famous church depicts El Caballero deParís , a well-known street person who roamed Havana during the 1950s, engaging passers-by with his philosophies on life, religion, politics and current events. On the eastern side of the plaza stands the Terminal Sierra Maestra cruise terminal, which dispatches shiploads of weekly tourists, while nearby the domed Lonja del Comercio is a former commodities market erected in 1909 and restored in 1996 to provide office space for foreign companies with joint ventures in Cuba.

This is a wonderfull site in old Havana. If you need visit it when you are in Cuba, just write me and I can help you.

Havana, World Contest Finalist

 
Havana features among the 14 finalists on the list of the NewWonders of the World Cities contest, the winner of which will be selected by millions of citizens from around the world.
The Cuban capital, which combines colonial and modern architectural values with the scent of a sea breeze, Caribbean music and lively residents, is now in the last stage of the competition organized by Switzerland’s New7Wonders Foundation. In 2007, this organization implemented a voting system on the internet to select the new 7 Wonders of the World, an initiative that has broadly appealed to people from all over the world who post their votes on the foundation’s website.

 The first was a project to nominate Seven New Wonders of the World and in 2011 a further contest was held to choose an equal number of natural wonders. The current online voting process to select the seven wonder cities opened in 2012, with over 1200 nominations from almost 220 countries. On October 7, 2013 this list was reduced to 300 candidates.
That figure was later cut to 28 cities, then to 21, and now to 14 finalists, all of which, according to Bernard Weber, founder and president of the New7Wonders Foundation, stand out for their diversity in terms of regional geography and urban culture.
The other cities included on the shortlist are Barcelona (Spain), Beirut (Lebanon), Chicago (United States), Doha (Qatar), Durban (South Africa), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), La Paz (Bolivia), London (United Kingdom), Mexico City, Perth (Australia), Quito (Ecuador), Reykjavik (Iceland), and Vigan (Philippines).
“Beautiful city, beautiful people,” “Where history and spontaneity go hand in hand,” “Havana is one of the world’s most beautiful cities”, are some of the reviews posted by internet users on the voting site. They thus recognize the magnetism of a city with more than two million inhabitants and that even though it will be 495 years on Nov 16 still captivates visitors for its well-preserved colonial ambiance in the La Habana Vieja (Old Havana) district.

This historic area of the city, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982, is perhaps its main attraction. Havana, one of Cuba ́s main tourist destinations, also features luxury hotels, comfortable cheap hotels, and famous nightclubs, many of which have been recognized by important institutions like Tripadvisor, the world’s largest online travel site for travel recommendations.
Walking through the city, visitors can admire palaces, colonial mansions, plazas, cobblestone streets, churches, old and
imposing fortresses, and old walls that not only captivate foreigners but enjoy the love of locals. A place worth visiting, the National Capitol, a majestic building that dates from 1929, has become an architectural symbol and the image that represents Havana on the website www.new7wonders.com .
When the contest closes on December 7, Havana could be one of the seven wonder cities of the world. So far, it is proud to rank among the top 14 cities in the contest.
By Martha Andres, The Havana Reporter, Year IV, No. 18

you can vote in https://www.new7wonders.com/en/cities

Cannon Blast Ceremony

Cannon Blast Ceremony   Old Havana

 

 

 I love this traditions, many people ask me about that. I prefer introduce it in my second night with my friends in our city tours

History & Traditions can take you back to the 19th century. Witness Cannon Shot Ceremony every night at 9pm at San Carlos de la Cabaña fortress.

This ceremony was introduced centuries ago, when the city guards still wore white wigs and uniforms with gold buttons. Back then, the cannon shot announced the closing of the city walls – Havana’s defensive protection – for the night. Today, it has become one of the most iconic Havana experiences, for Cubans and visitors alike. Every evening at 21:00 (09.00 pm), cannon shots are fired (you can hear them from many parts of the city) by uniformed guards in the same traditional way as centuries past.

Photography by Paul Mannix, you can see more Pictures from him in https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmannix/

Would you like visit Cannon Blast Ceremony  in your days in havana? Please, write me and I keep time for go with you to San Carlos de la Cabaña fortress

El Templete, a Landmark in Havana

 Today I want tell you about one of my favorite places in Havana, El Templete. It´s my favorite place to talk about this city with tourists in my travels.

 The building situated exactly in front of the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales (today The City Museum) is a comparatively small building constructed in the neoclassicist style. Today it is used for commemorative ceremonies marking the founding of Villa San Cristobal de la Habana (Havana).

This small Greco-Roman temple was inaugurated on March 19, 1828, in homage to Queen Josefa Amalia, the wife of Spain’s King Fernando VII.

Inside were hung three large canvases that represent the holding of the first mass, the first town council, and a central canvas (painted later) where there appears the blessing of the site at a mass led by the bishop of Espada in presence of the General Captain, the aristocracy and high officials of the colonial government. These works were created by the French painter Jean Baptiste Vermay, whose remains and those of his wife are in the interior in a cenotaph made of Carrara marble.

The paintings have only been taken down on one occasion for restoration.

The Templete is among the symbols of the city, one of the most beautiful and old traditions on the island, and served to determine the area that marked the beginning of the Plaza and Havana when it was founded on the north coast of the island in 1519.

This marking of the city was perpetuated first by the planting of a commemorative Ceiba tree, later by the stone in the Column Cagigal (1754), and after with the construction of the neoclassical Templete and its interior canvases (1828). Such monuments attest to this site being the setting of the first mass and session of town council, both held under the leafy tree.

The only remnant of the original Ceiba tree is in people’s memories, but now another equally powerful one has grown and is worshipped by the practitioners and believers of religions that originated in Africa. Each year on November 16, thousands of people of different ages, origins, races and sexes turn out to make three circles around the tree (without stopping to touch it) and to toss coins at its base while making three wishes.

Only on that day of the year is this tradition celebrated. It is attracting more and more people hoping for miracles, though it is now becoming more of a social event than a religious one.

People come from all parts of the world from very distant countries. If you’re in Cuba on that day, don’t miss making three turns around the Ceiba tree, tossing a few coins and — with much faith — hope for love, health and good luck to accompany you.