Museums, Havana

Castillo de la Real Fuerza Castle in Old Havana, Cuba, one of Cuba’s most ancient castles. It is a great sample of military architecture during the Spain's rule over the Caribbean. It is located in the Plaza de Armas Square in Old Havana facing the sea. The Castle, as well as the rest of the old city’s fortifications, has been declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Castillo de la Real Fuerza Castle is the oldest fortress still preserved in all the Americas. It was built between 1558 and 1577, in the same location where a fort was destroyed by French pirates in 1555. The west tower is crowned by the copy of a well-known bronze weathervane called La Giraldilla. The original was made in Havana in 1630 and is quite similar to the Giralda of Seville. https://www.tripcuba.org/castillo-de-la-real-fuerza

El Capitolio, or the National Capitol Building is one of the most visited sites in Havana. This majestic construction, located in the Centro Habana, is similar to that in Washington D.C, but a meter higher, a meter wider, and a meter longer, as well as much more rich in detail. It was started to be built by Gerardo Machado in 1926 supported by North America. Formerly, it was used as headquarters of the Cuban Congress, but since 1959 it has hosted the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the Science and Technology National Library. The entrance is sheltered by 6 huge Doric columns, on top of a 55 steps granite staircase. In both sides on top of the stairs there are two amazing sculptures in bronze, a masculine and a feminine one, both 6,70 meters high, by the Italian Angelo Zanelli. When you cross them you’ll arrive to the Hall of Lost Steps, named in this way due to its wonderful acoustics, and in which center is the Republic statue, a huge woman in bronze 14,60 meters high and more than 30 tons weight, representing the virtue of the nation and work. https://www.tripcuba.org/el-capitolio-havana

Known for "naive" and "childlike" style, Cuban artist José Fuster created colorful, dream-like houses covered entirely with ceramic tiles. Go back in the history, after successful gallery tours across Europe, Fuster was struck with a desire to recreate something like Gaudi’s public works in Barcelona and Brâncuși’s across Romania in his own homeland. He wanted to put his artistic reality into his real-world surroundings, and he began in his own neighborhood. In 1975, after moving into a modest wood house in the rundown neighborhood of Jaimanitas outside Havana, Fuster set about decorating his studio in colorful mosaic. Once he was done there, he asked his neighbors if he could decorate their homes and business as well. A few accepted his offer and the tile creations grew. Over the course of a decade, doctors’ offices, bus stops, fountains, benches, gateways, and more were enveloped by Fuster’s whimsical imagination. Today, his artwork coats the neighborhood in a rainbow of strange, enchanting fantasy. Jaimanitas was an economically depressed area before Fuster arrived, and now it has turned into an artist’s paradise. Tourists are bussed into the neighborhood to admire Fuster’s still-growing kingdom, which has spawned a new generation of artists inspired by the surroundings they came up in. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fusterlandia

Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes del Morro (Morro Castle) was erected between 1589 and 1630 to protect the mouth of the Havana port from pirates and invaders. The fortress stands on a rocky promontory known as El Morro, over the Atlantic. It was the King of Spain who ordered the castle to be built and appointed Juan de Texeda, a field commander, and Batista Antonelli, a military architect, to lead the works. The castle was originally planned to have an irregular polygonal shape, with three-meter-thick walls and deep moats. The castle is an perfect example of renaissance military architecture, and is endowed with an harmonic elegance that melds with its natural surroundings through a series of terraces fused to the rock. Nowadays, the castle offers impressive views of the sea and Havana. The lighthouse that crowns its tower was added in 1844 and helps guide ships docking in the port. https://www.tripcuba.org/morro-castle-havana

Discover the Planetarium of Havana in Cuba and let it take you on a journey through time and space! The Planetario de La Habana (Planetarium of Havana) is a must-visit place in Cuba. It was built in 2009 with the help of the Japanese government and is located in Calle Mercaderes, near the Plaza Vieja Square in Havana. The Planetarium has exhibitions including a scale model of the Solar System inside a huge sphere, a Big Bang simulation, and a theater where it is possible to see more than 6,000 stars. The Planetarium has several telescopes, a projector that can lock onto more than 6,500 stars, a library of astronomy, a theater, interactive games, and a staff made up of physicists and astronomers. https://www.tripcuba.org/planetarium-of-havana

Discover the Rum Museum in Old Havana, Cuba, to learn more about and taste famous beverage! The Havana Club Rum Museum ( Museo del Ron ) is located next to the Colonial Plaza de San Francisco de Asis Square , right in front of Havana harbor. It is not necessary to drink alcohol to enjoy this wonderful museum , because by visiting it you'll still be able to delve into Cuban culture. This museum offers an interesting guided tou r exhibiting the complex rum-making process in old machines . This tour is available in Spanish, English, French, German and Italian. It explains the entire process, from the manufacturing white oak barrels to the rum's fermentation and ageing process, as well as a scale-model copy of a sugar mill. https://www.tripcuba.org/rum-museum-of-havana