The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is an
historic luxury hotel. It was designed by
the famous New York firm McKim, Mead and
White and features an eclectic mix of architectural
styles. It opened in 1930, when Cuba was a prime travel destination for Americans, long before
the embargo.
Among its first illustrious guests were artists, actors,
athletes and writers such as Frank
Sinatra, Ava
Gardner, Mickey
Mantle, Johnny
Weissmuller, Buster
Keaton, Jorge
Negrete, Agustín
Lara, Rocky
Marciano, Tyrone
Power, Rómulo
Gallegos, Errol
Flynn, John
Wayne, Marlene
Dietrich, Gary
Cooper, Marlon
Brando and Ernest
Hemingway. The hotel's reputation as a deluxe host is
backed by patrons such as Winston
Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor, scientist Alexander
Flemming, and innumerable Ibero-American Heads of State
and European monarchs. Minnesota Governor, Jesse
Ventura stayed at the hotel while visiting Cuba on a
trade mission in 2002.
The Christ of Havana is a
large sculpture representing Jesus
of Nazareth on a hilltop
overlooking the bay. It is the work of the Cuban
sculptor Jilma
Madera (after she won the commission in
1953).
The statue was carved out of white Carrara marble, the same
material used for many of the monuments of the Colon
Cemetery. The statue is about 66 feet high including a
10 foot base. It weighs approximately 320 tons. The statue was built from 67
blocks of marble that had been brought from Italy
after being personally blessed by Pope Pius
XII. The figure of Christ is standing with the right
hand held near the chin and the left hand near his chest. Facing the city, the
statue was left with empty eyes to give the impression of looking at all, from
anywhere to be seen.
The sculpture, located in the Havana suburb of Casablanca, in the
municipality of Regla, was inaugurated on
La
Cabaña hill on the 24th of December 1958. Just fifteen
days after its inauguration, on the 8th of January 1959, Fidel
Castro entered Havana during the Cuban
revolution. That same day, the image was hit by
lightning, and the head was destroyed. It was subsequently
repaired.
The sculpture is 167 feet above sea level, rising to a
height of 259 feet, allowing the locals to see it from many points of the city,
sadly today covered in scaffolding.
The Fortaleza de San Carlos de la
Cabaña, or Fort of Saint Charles, is an 18th-century fortress complex, the
biggest in the Americas, located on the elevated eastern side of the harbour
entrance, the fort rises above the 200-foot hilltop, along with Morro Castle
(fortress).
Construction of La Cabaña began in 1763 by
King Carlos
III of Spain, the controlling colonial
power of Cuba, following the earlier capture of
Havana by British forces (an
exchange was soon made to give Havana back to the Spanish in exchange for Florida). Realising that
the city was not well enough defended and fearing further attacks following British colonial conquests in
the Seven Years War, they now moved to build a new
fortress to boost the defense of Havana. Replacing earlier fortifications next
to the 16th-century El
Morro fortress, La Cabaña was the second largest
colonial military installation in the New
World by the time it was completed in 1774 (after St.
Felipe de Barajas fortification at Cartagena, Colombia), at great expense to
Spain.
The fortress served as both a military base
and prison, over the next two
hundred years, for both Spain and an independent Cuba. La Cabaña was used as a
military prison during the Batista regime. In
January 1959, rebels led by Che
Guevara captured La Cabaña, to use it as a headquarters
and military prison for several months, while leading the Cuban
revolution. During his five-month tenure in that post
(the 2nd of January to the 12th of June 1959), Guevara oversaw the revolutionary
tribunals and executions of suspected war criminals, political prisoners,
traitors, chivatos (informants) and former members of Batista's secret
police. The complex is now part of a historical park, along with El Morro
castle, and houses several museums open to the public. From there, every night a
cannon shot rumbles at 21:00 as the so-called "El Cañonazo de las 9", a
custom kept from colonial times, signaling the closure of the city wall
doors.
The Bacardi Building was designed by
architects Rafael Fernández Ruenes, Esteban Rodríguez Castell and José Menéndez,
for the Bacardi rum company. The
art deco landmark was completed in 1930 and was at the time the largest building
in the city. After the Cuban
revolution and the departure of Bacardi from Cuba, the
building continued to be used for offices. At the end of the 1990’s it was
renovated by the city historian's office. (This beautiful building I had to take
from the side as the front was covered in scaffolding.)
Talking of
scaffolding, we saw the first picture and thought, Oh that’s been there a
while, but the second shot we feel worthy of ‘One Careful
Owner’. Compared to the bus in the bottom right hand corner the structure
is massive.
Oops.
A regional meeting of
taxi’s
ALL IN ALL NOT THE BEST, SAD WE DIDN’T HAVE EAR
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