Places in Havana

Originally called Havana Biltmore Yacht & Country Club, the establishment gained notoriety when it denied entry to Cuban president Fulgencio Batista on the grounds that he was ‘black’ (in fact, Ba …

This tiny and architecturally authentic Greek orthodox church (Cuba’s only one) stands in the Jardín Madre Teresa de Calucuta and was consecrated by Bartholomew I Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop o …

Made up of a church, a convent and a peculiar vaulted arch, this religious complex is the most extensive of those surviving in Old Havana. After the arrival in Havana of the first members of the Order …

With Brother Tomás Linares del Castillo as its first rector, the first university in Cuba, the Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de La Habana, was created in 1728. After several reforms, t …

A beautiful façade with a huge arched portal, a loggia supported by thick columns on pedestals, and beautiful mediopunto stained-glass windows above define this two-story 18th-century building on Plaz …

Although considered by many the oldest church in Havana, a research by historian Pedro A. Herrera has proved otherwise. The original building, which was built as a hermitage in 1638 for freed slaves a …

This avenue takes its name, Avenida de los Presidentes (Avenue of the Presidents), from the monuments that have been placed on its wide promenade to honor some of Cuba’s former presidents as well as o …

Cuba’s first theme park opened in 2008 on the site of Havana’s former Coney Island Park. The very old park was razed to the ground to give way to the new attractions. There are rides for kids of all a …

The Lonja del Comercio, which first opened on March 1909, is angled obliquely to the square on its northern side. It was built in eclectic-style by the architectural firm of Purdy and Henderson as a c …

In 1689, Bishop Diego Evelino de Compostela founded San Ambrosio, an unpretentious school for boys, located on Tejadillo Street and adjacent to the Jesuit church under construction at the time. When t …