Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. The city had a population of 2,137,847 inhabitants in 2022, and it spans a total of 728.26 km2 (281.18 sq mi) for the capital city side and 8,475.57 km² for the metropolitan zone – making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the second largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region.
The Malecón is a broad esplanade, roadway, and seawall that stretches for 8 km along the coast in Havana, Cuba, from the mouth of Havana Harbor in Old Havana, along the north side of the Centro Habana neighborhood and the Vedado neighborhood, ending at the mouth of the Almendares River. New businesses are appearing on the esplanade due to economic reforms in Cuba that now allow Cubans to own private businesses.
Gran Teatro de La Habana is a theater in Havana, Cuba, home to the Cuban National Ballet. It was designed by the Belgian architect Paul Belau and built by Purdy and Henderson, Engineers in 1914 at the site of the former Teatro Tacón. Its construction was paid for by the Galician immigrants of Havana to serve as a community-social center. Located in the Paseo del Prado, its facilities include theatres, a concert hall, conference rooms, a video screening room, as well as an art gallery, a choral center and several rehearsal halls for dance companies. It hosts the International Ballet Festival of Havana every two years since 1960.
Ciudad Colonial is the historic central neighborhood of the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the Americas. The area has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is also known as Zona Colonial or more colloquially as "La Zona".
The Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana is a luxury hotel in Havana, Cuba. It is located in the historic Manzana de Gómez building, an early-20th-century building that was Cuba's first shopping mall. The Kempinski Hotel chain, belongs to the oldest hotel groups in Europe, Kempinski Aktiengesellschaft.
The Acueducto de Albear is the name of a water supply system of the city of Havana, Cuba, built in the 19th century by Francisco de Albear.
Floridita or El Floridita is a historic fish restaurant and cocktail bar in the older part of Havana, Cuba. It lies at the end of Calle Obispo, across Monserrate Street from the National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana. The establishment is famous for its daiquiris and for having been one of the favourite hangouts of Ernest Hemingway in Havana. The bar now boasts a life size bronze statue of Ernest Hemingway positioned in his favourite spot at the end of the bar. On a small plaque hanging in El Floridita, hangs Hemingway's signed quote: "My mojito in the Bodeguita del Medio and my daiquiri in the Floridita".
The Bacardi Building is an Art Deco Havana landmark designed by the architects Esteban Rodríguez-Castells and Rafael Fernández Ruenes and completed in 1930. It is located on the corner of Calles Monserrate and San Juan de Dios on a 1,320 m2 (14,200 sq ft) lot in Las Murallas, Old Havana.
Paseo del Prado is a street and promenade in Havana, Cuba, near the location of the old city wall, and the division between Centro Habana and Old Havana. Technically, the Paseo del Prado includes the entire length of Paseo Martí approximately from the Malecon to Calle Máximo Gómez, the Fuente de la India fountain. The promenade has had several names; it was renamed Paseo de Martí in 1898 with the island's independence from Spain. Despite the historic references, the people of Havana simply call it "El Prado".
The following is a timeline of the history of Havana, Cuba.
The Walls of Madrid are the five successive sets of walls that surrounded the city of Madrid from the Middle Ages until the end of the 19th century. Some of the walls had a defensive or military function, while others made it easy to tax goods entering the city. Towards the end of the 19th century the demographic explosion that came with the Industrial Revolution prompted urban expansion throughout Spain. Older walls were torn down to enable the expansion of the city under the grid plan of Carlos María de Castro.
The Walls del Arrabal were the third in a set of five walls built around Madrid, now the capital of Spain. There are no remaining ruins of the Walls del Arrabal, leaving some debate as to their extent and the period of their construction. It is possible that the walls were built as early as the 12th century, however they were most likely constructed in 1438. The walls may have been intended to protect people against the plagues that ravaged the city at the time. The walls united the urbanized suburbs of the city and prevented entry of the infected.
The Parque Central, Havana is one of the best known and central sites of the city of Havana, Cuba. It is located between Prado, Neptuno, Zulueta and San José streets, and San Rafael Boulevard. Among the buildings surrounding the park are Gran Teatro de La Habana, the Hotel Inglaterra, the Hotel Telégrafo, el Hotel Parque Central, la Manzana de Gómez, the Hotel Plaza and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.
The López Serrano Building was the tallest residential building in Cuba until the construction of the FOCSA in 1956. Designed by the architect Ricardo Mira in 1929, who in 1941 who also designed La Moderna Poesia bookstore on Obispo Street for the same owner, it is often compared to the Bacardi Building in Old Havana built two years before the López Serrano Building because of their similarity in massing and central tower. The congressman, senator, and presidential candidate Eduardo Chibás was living on the fourteenth-floor penthouse when he committed suicide in August 1951 on the air at CMQ Radio Station.
Barrio de San Lázaro is one of the first neighbourhoods in Havana, Cuba. It initially occupied the area bounded by Calle Infanta to the west, Calle Zanja to the south, Calle Belascoáin to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the north, forming the western edge of Centro Habana. According to the 1855 Ordenanzas Municipales of the city of Havana, Barrio San Lázaro was the Tercer Distrito and was Barrio No. 8.
The Paseo de Tacón, or Paseo Militar, was created by the Captain General Miguel Tacón y Rosique (1834–1838) who promoted the reform of the “road” that, starting from the calles of San Luis de Gonzaga (Reina) and Belascoáin, connected to the Castillo del Príncipe. Calle Belascoáin was the edge between the city and the countryside.
The Quinta de Los Molinos is more than two centuries old and a national monument, an oasis in the heart of the city located at the intersection of one of Havana’s heaviest traffic arteries: Infanta, Carlos III, and Boyeros avenues. The Quinta since colonial times has had a complicated history to various events and characters, mainly with General Máximo Gómez.
The Hotel Saratoga was a historic hotel located on the Paseo del Prado, in Old Havana near the Fuente de la India. Built in 1880 as a warehouse, it was remodeled into a hotel in 1933. It was further remodeled in 2005 and reopened as a luxury hotel. The hotel was largely destroyed by a gas explosion on 6 May 2022, which killed forty-seven people.
Calle Zulueta follows the exterior line of the old defense wall of Havana, its route is affected by several inflections along the way. Running from its northern source at Calle Arsenal, it follows a slight incline to the southwest and heads south at the intersection with Calle Neptuno, then inclining to the south southeast at Calle Dragones. With a slight incline to the southwest, it heads south at the intersection with Calle Neptuno, then inclining to the south southeast at Calle Dragones. It marks one of the limits of the Parque Central, it extends by the Plaza hotel, and by the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Sloppy Joe's bar. Running parallel to Calle Zulueta is Calle Monserrate.
The palace of the Marchioness of Villalba, built around 1875, features the work of architect Eugenio Rayneri y Sorrentino. According to historian Carlos Venegas in his book "The Urbanization of Las Murallas: Dependence and Modernity," the palace maintains the traditional structures of Havana's stately homes while updating its ornamentation with precise historicist features. The main floor displays Corinthian pilasters and curved or triangular pediments, alternating with the transparency of the two galleries of the main central patio. The architect incorporated a Gothic motif of a pointed arch in the portal arch, showcasing an eclectic and historicist expression. This departure from strict neoclassicism demonstrates a more daring approach in the conception of its forms and in the modernization of the style. It is located on what is today is Calle Egido 504 in Havana.
