Cuba - Lonely Planet [74]
One of Havana’s newest buildings is the beautiful gold-domed Catedral Ortodoxa Nuestra Señora de Kazán (Av Carlos Manuel de Céspedes btwn Sol & Santa Clara), a Russian Orthodox church built in the early 2000s and consecrated at a ceremony attended by Raúl Castro in October 2008. The church was part of an attempt to reignite Russian-Cuban relations after they went sour in 1991.
MUSEO–CASA NATAL DE JOSé MARTí
The Museo–Casa Natal de José Martí ( 861-3778; Leonor Pérez No 314; admission CUC$1, camera CUC$2; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat) is a humble, two-story dwelling on the edge of Habana Vieja where the apostle of Cuban independence was born on January 28, 1853. Today it’s a small museum that displays letters, manuscripts, photos, books and other mementos of his life. While not as comprehensive as the Martí museum on Plaza de la Revolución, it’s a charming little abode and well worth a small detour.
Nearby, to the west across Av de Bélgica, is the longest remaining stretch of the old city wall (see boxed text,).
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THE WALL
Located at the gateway to the New World, colonial Havana was the strategic nexus of Spain’s lucrative Latin American empire and the congregation point for its annual trans-Atlantic treasure fleet. In the 17th century, anxious to defend the city from attacks by pirates and overzealous foreign armies, Cuba’s perennially paranoid colonial authorities drew up plans for the construction of a 5km-long city wall.
Built on the backs of slave labor, the wall was begun in 1674 and took over 60 years to finish. On its completion in the 1740s, it was 1.5m thick and 10m high, running along a line now occupied by Av de las Misiones and Av de Bélgica.
Among the wall’s myriad defenses were nine bastions and 180 big guns aimed toward the sea. The only way in and out of the city was through 11 heavily guarded gates that closed every night and opened every morning to the sound of a solitary gunshot.
As the age of piracy passed and the burgeoning city began to outgrow its 17th-century parameters, the wall’s importance gradually diminished. In 1863 the colonial authorities ordered its demolition, though the work began piecemeal and much of the structure remained intact more than half a century later.
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EDIFICIO BACARDí
Finished in 1929, the magnificent Edificio Bacardí (Bacardí building; Av de las Misiones btwn Empedrado & San Juan de Dios; hours vary) is a triumph of art-deco architecture with a whole host of lavish finishings that somehow manage to make kitschy look cool. Hemmed in by other buildings, it’s hard to get a full kaleidoscopic view of the structure from street level, though the opulent bell tower can be glimpsed from all over Havana. There’s a bar in the lobby and for a few Convertibles you can travel up to the tower for an eagle’s-eye view.
IGLESIA DEL SANTO ANGEL CUSTODIO
Originally constructed in 1695, this church ( 861-0469; Compostela No 2; during Mass 7:15am Tue, Wed & Fri, 6pm Thu, Sat & Sun) was pounded by a ferocious hurricane in 1846 after which it was entirely rebuilt in neo-Gothic style. Among the notable historical and literary figures that have passed through its handsome doors are 19th-century Cuban novelist Cirilo Villaverde, who set the main scene of his novel Cecilia Valdés here, as well as Félix Varela and José Martí, who were both baptized in the church in 1788 and 1853 respectively.
Centro Habana
CAPITOLIO NACIONAL
The incomparable Capitolio Nacional ( 863-7861; unguided/guided CUC$3/4; 9am-8pm) is Havana’s most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the ‘Dance of the Millions’ had gifted the Cuban government a seemingly bottomless treasure box of sugar money. Similar to the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC, but (marginally) taller and much richer in detail, the work was initiated by Cuba’s US-backed dictator Gerardo Machado in 1926 and took 5000 workers three years, two months and