The city museum, cradle of Havana's symbols
The city museum is located in the Palace of the Captains General (Palacio de los Capitanes Generales), which was the seat of Havana's government for centuries and is currently also the headquarters of the Historian's Office. Today is one of the most appreciated tourist places, as can also be observed in the Youtube video we include.
The Palace of the Captains General
Besides being a historical palace that today houses the Museum of the City's Relics, one of the most important museums in Cuba, it is also the most important work of Baroque architecture in Havana. It is located in the Plaza de Armas, in front of the Templete, the Santa Isabel Hotel and the Castillo de la Real Fuerza. In its interior courtyard there is a statue of the discoverer of Cuba, Christopher Columbus.
The Palace occupies the whole block and in its place, in the past, was the old parish of Havana. Its construction began in 1776 and since its completion, it has been the seat of 65 governors of Cuba. From 1899 to 1902, it was the seat of the military governors of the United States and, finally, during the Republican era, it was the presidential palace until 1920.
It was also the city hall and jail throughout the colonial period until 1835, and housed many government and merchant offices that were leased. The upper floor facing the main square housed the office of the Captain General.
After 1920, it was assigned to the Havana City Hall until December 11, 1967, during the revolutionary period, when it finally became what it is today, the city's museum.
The City Museum
The City Museum has forty permanent exhibition rooms whose objective is to preserve and exhibit relics of Cuban history, especially from the colonial period. For this very reason, it is considered the most important museum in Havana's historical center. The most relevant of these exhibition rooms are listed here.
"Giraldilla"
This is where the original statue of the Giraldilla is kept, which was swept away by a cyclone in 1926 from one of the towers of the already cited Castillo de la Real Fuerza. Now, what is in the castle is a replica, being the original kept on the City Museum. For more details on the legend of the Giraldilla, see this page.
Heraldry
This room shows the symbols, objects, customs and documents of the Cuban nobility, not only from the colonial period, but also and especially from the 19th century. As this room shows, the Cuban nobility attached great importance to heraldic symbolism.
The Carriage House of the Palace
Carriages were one of the first industries in Cuba, together with the sugar industry and the railroads. This room is a testimony of this industry. It contains a showcase with locks, keys and metal supports from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
The Carriage House is almost exclusively devoted to the carriages that were used in the history of Havana, most of them dating back to the 19th century, especially the Quintín and the English station wagon, which had a greater capacity of people.
But there are not only carriages, there are also coachmen's costumes and various accessories related to the transportation of the time. There is also a relic that represents the first locomotive that ran in Cuba in 1837 through the Villanueva station. This Cagney 15 type locomotive, although manufactured in the United States in 1905, is a jewel of the Cuban railway heritage. On the other hand, even the classic Cuban cars that are now considered national relics are in fact American-made vehicles.
Parish
The Major Parish was the first cathedral that was built in the Plaza de Armas, which occupied the place now occupied by the Palace of the Captains General. It was destroyed in 1941 by a lightning strike and this room contains all the relics and testimonies that remain from this first parish of Havana. Among the exhibits are architectural remains of the building, portraits of the first bishops, pieces from convents, jewelry and other objects.
19th Century Room
This room shows the luxury, artistic trends, fashion, decorations and souvenirs of Cuban society in the 19th century, a time of great wealth and prosperity in Cuba due to the development of the sugar industry and the exploitation of this industry.
Image Gallery
This room contains a series of plastic works, mainly from the 19th century. Among the artists exhibited are Víctor Manuel, Leopoldo Romañach, Armando Menocal, Amelia Peláez, Mariano Rodríguez, René Portocarrero, etc. Most of them were great names of the academy. Most of these artists depicted scenes of Cuban life at the time.
Emilie Roig's Room
Roig (1889-1964) was the historian of Havana City, before Eusevio Leal. He was the promoter of several museums and works in the historic center and founded the office of the historian. The Emilio Roig Room commemorates the office and professional affairs of this famous historian, with collection pieces, including a caricature by Conrado Walter Massaguer that recreates the members of the Grupo Minorista, important figures of Cuban culture in the first half of the 20th century.
Brass Room
Blacksmithing was one of the most important trades in Havana's history. This room shows the most ingenious objects made by Cuban blacksmiths from the colonial period to the 19th century.
Hall of Statues and Lapidary
All the works of art or construction in marble, which were made especially during the 19th century due to the marble boom in Cuba, are exhibited here. Large quantities of marble entered the country, which also received visits from eminent Italian sculptors. In particular, as we mentioned, the Giraldilla is exhibited. Most of the sculptures in this room are made of Carrara marble, which in the nineteenth century was a raw material easy to find and Italian arts were imposed through neoclassicism, creating a scholastic and commercial stimulus.
Finally, the room contains the pieces that were collected in various avenues, parks, gardens and monuments and that are now preserved for all history lovers.
Spanish Uniform Room
All the complete costumes of Spanish soldiers from all eras, according to their ranks and functions.
Chapter House
The cabildo was a form of government widely used in Spain and was obviously applied in the colonies, including Cuba. This room exhibits elements related to this form of government and the ceremonies associated with it.
Heroic Cuba
This room bears witness to all the anti-colonial and liberating actions carried out by Cubans over the centuries. From the liberation of the colonies to the abolition of slavery on October 10, 1868. There are also elements that testify to the Cuban wars of independence. There are no elements of the Cuban Revolution, as a separate museum is dedicated to this event.
Hall of Flags
The exhibition presents the flags that have been used in the history of Cuba, from the Spanish flag to the different flags that have been used. It also exhibits personal objects of the independence leaders, including José Martí. You can also see the painting of the fall in battle of Antonio Maceo. Among other objects and works.
Room of Thought
It contains objects and testimonies of the dominant ideologies of the 19th century. The themes covered are: independence, the discontent of the slave-owning bourgeoisie with the regime imposed by Spain on Cuba, the annexationist movement of those who support the United States, and finally the supporters of total independence.
Espada Cemetery Hall
The funerary, like other things, has been an art, and the funerary of the nineteenth century is related to sculpture and foundry. All this is visible in this room that recalls the first cemetery of the city, the Cemetery of Espada. It contains bisque flowers and glass beads, beautifully carved tombstones, iron coffins and historical events of the political life that took place there. Founded in 1806 by the illustrious bishop Juan José Díaz de Espada y Fernández de Landa.
This room is quite large and deserves to be observed closely, it also contains the wall of niches and the tomb of the French painter Jean B. Vermay.
Hall of Metallurgy
Copper has always been an abundant metal in Cuba, followed by bronze and iron, so metallurgy has always found an appropriate place to be exhibited in this museum. It is possible to find a valuable and unique collection of Spanish-American vessels, dated between the 16th and 19th centuries, a legacy of the Catalan blacksmith Ricardo Soler.
United States Intervention Room
This piece bears witness to the American domination of Cuba. The United States used the pretext of a naval explosion to intervene, in 1898, in the war between Cuba and Spain. This war ended with the Treaty of Paris, which consisted in the handing over of power over Cuba to the United States. This room contains relics of all these events.
Dinning Room
A colonial salon is a faithful reproduction of the dining rooms of 19th century colonial palaces.
The Wicker Room
It reflects the atmosphere that reigned in the palace during the last decades of the 19th century: it presents mainly French and European works of art, especially Art Nouveau and Art Deco.
Sculpture
It contains luxurious 19th century tableware, portraits of the American painter Elias Metcalf.
Coffee Room
In this room, the captains general were received and shared coffee during their meetings. You can find a set of pearls from the 19th century, oriental art pieces and fans used by the ladies during the colonial period. It is also possible to appreciate the works of various foreign painters.
The Infanta's Room
In Spain, the king's daughters were called infantas. This room is dedicated to the visit of the Infanta Eulalia de Borbón who visited Havana in 1893, staying in the Captain General's room, that is, this room. It contains objects commemorating the event and paintings.
Bathroom
Glassware, Chinese porcelain and Italian marble bathtubs are displayed in this room.
Room Adapted to the 19th Century
Nineteenth-century aristocratic environments were often extremely elegant and characterized by a mix of various influences, including foreign ones. This room is an example.
White Room
This room served as a complement to receive guests on festival days, and was also used as a space to listen to music.
Mirrors Room
It was in this room that the most important political events took place. It was here that the Treaty of Paris was signed, the neo-colonial republic was born among many other important events.
Conclusion
This article lacks photos but has a very informative video on all the topics covered and more. The city museum is very large and it can take a whole morning or more to visit. Photos would not be enough to show all the spaces and would make this page very slow to load. That's why, instead of photos, we preferred to provide a video.
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