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 Moncada Barracks were military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba named after General Guillermo Moncada, a hero of the Cuban War of Independence. On 26 July 1953, the barracks was the site of an armed attack by a small group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro. That day a simultaneous attack was carried out on the Carlos M. de Cespedes Barracks in Bayamo directed by Raúl Martínez Ararás by order of Castro. The attack failed and the surviving revolutionaries were imprisoned. This armed attack is widely accepted as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. The date on which the attack took place, 26 July, was adopted by Castro as the name for his revolutionary movement which eventually toppled the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista on 1 January 1959.
The Museum of the Revolution is located in the Old Havana section of Havana, Cuba, in what was the Presidential Palace of all Cuban presidents from Mario García Menocal to Fulgencio Batista. The building became the Museum of the Revolution during the years following the Cuban Revolution. The palace building was attacked by the Directorio Revolucionario 13 de Marzo in 1957.
Old Havana is the city-center (downtown) and one of the 15 municipalities forming Havana, Cuba. It has the second highest population density in the city and contains the core of the original city of Havana. The positions of the original Havana city walls are the modern boundaries of Old Havana.
Havana Cathedral is one of eleven Catholic cathedrals on the island. It is located in the Plaza de la Catedral on Calle Empedrado, between San Ignacio y Mercaderes, Old Havana, Havana, Cuba. The thirty by forty-nine meters rectangular church serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana. Christopher Columbus’ remains were kept in the cathedral between 1796 and 1898 before they were taken to Seville Cathedral.
The Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana is one of three Catholic archdioceses in Cuba.
The Plaza Mayor in Trinidad, Cuba, is the historic centre of the town, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
The National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana in Havana, Cuba is a museum of fine arts that exhibits Cuban art collections from the colonial times up to contemporary generations.
The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales is the former official residence of the Spanish Empire's governors of Havana, Cuba, and in the Post-Colonial Period was for many time the City Hall. Located on the eastern side of the Plaza de Armas in Old Havana it is home to the Museum of the City of Havana. It houses exhibitions of art and historical artefacts and many of the rooms are preserved with their original Colonial decoration.
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.
Leonardo Morales y Pedroso was one of the most prominent Cuban architect in Cuba in the first half 20th century. In 1900 he entered and attended pre-university studies at De Witt Clinton High of New York, where he obtained a bachelor's degree. In 1909 he graduated of Bachelor in Architecture from Columbia University. After graduating, he returned to Cuba in 1909 where he worked a time in the local architect firm of Newton & Sola with the architect Thomas M. Newton, who was director of the civil construction section of the Secretary of Public Works during the 2nd American intervention in Cuba. In February 1910, he returned to the United States and obtained a master's degree (Doctor) in Architecture from Columbia University in the State of New York. After obtaining his doctorate in architecture he joined in March 1910 the architecture Company Morales y Mata arquitectos, created in 1907 by his elder brother the engineer Luis Morales y Pedroso in association with the master builder Jose F. Mata. In 1917, after having built more than 30 important buildings, they decided to separate from José Mata, who had to stop working because illness and died a short time later. The company changed its name for Morales y Compañia Arquitectos with his brother the engineer Luis Morales y Pedroso as president and Leonardo as Associate together with other 7 architects. He was able to obtain noteworthy real estate commissions partly because of his family's origin, good social connections and social standing in Havana high society. He was named by the Cuban press of the time as the "Havana's architect" and his architectural style is recognized as the "Morales style". During 50 years Leonardo Morales y Pedroso received around 250 notable architectural commissions, some of them include:
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 Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula, Havana is part of the ecclesiastical heritage of Havana. It is located at 110 Calle Leonor Pérez on the corner of Calle San Ignacio. It is near the bay on the south side of Havana Vieja."
The Alameda de Paula is a promenade in Havana, Cuba. It was the first to be built in the city designed by Antonio Fernández de Trebejos y Zaldívar.
The Palacio de Aldama is a neoclassical mansion located diagonally opposite to the old Plaza del Vapor, and in front of the old Campo de Marte; present day Parque de la Fraternidad, in Havana, Cuba. Built in 1840 by the Dominican architect and engineer Manuel José Carrera, its main facade of columns spans one block on Calle Amistad between Calles Reina and Estrella.
The Colegio de Belén located between 45th and 66th streets, situated next door to the Tropicana nightclub, in Marianao, Havana, was designed in 1925 by the architect Leonardo Morales y Pedroso and his brother the engineer Luis Morales y Pedroso of the firm Morales y Compañía Arquitectos.
The Palacio del Segundo Cabo was built in the last decades of the 18th century, between 1770 and 1791, as part of the urban improvement project around the Plaza de Armas.
The Coliseo of Havana was the first theatre built in Havana, constructed on January 20, 1775. It was built near the Alameda de Paula between Calles Acosta, Oficios, and Luz, in Old Havana.
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.
