Plaza de Armas, the Point Zero of Old Havana
Don't confuse Point Zero with Kilometer Zero, which is located in the National Capitol. Even if the Capitol seems to be the starting point for an excursion to Old Havana, the true place to begin is Plaza de Armas, because is precisely there where the Havana city was founded.
The Plaza de Armas was edified in 1519 and it was initially named Plaza de la Iglesia (Church's Place) because the Parroquia Mayor (Major parish) was there, the first church of Havana, which, despite of that, was destroyed in 1741. The Plaza de Armas is the most ancient place of Old Havana and, during the colonial epoch, it represented the administrative center of the city.
The Cardinal Points of Plaza de Armas
The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, which is located in the western side of the place was the base of the government for long, until 1913, then, until 1967, it was the city hall of Havana, and, starting from that year, it converted to what it is now, the City Museum.
From the side of the bay, there is the Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Real Force Castle), which, during the entire colonial epoch, it kept the treasures of the city coming from Spain. Aside from the Castle, in the left side, there is the Templete, which remind the place where the city was born. It seems that it was there that Spanish celebrated the first mass and the first chapter of Havana, in 1519. At the Templete right, there is a big palace, erected by the count of Santovenia, about at the end of the XVIII century, today the Santa Isabel Hotel.
From the southern side there is another palace, which, in colonial epoch was called Palacio del Segundo Cabo, founded in 1776 and inhabited by the Cuban General Capitan's right hand. Today is the base of the Cuban Institute of the Book. From this same side we also find the Mural Art Museum as well as other cultural institutions.
At the middle of the Plaza de Armas there is a park and at the middle of that park we can find the statue of the Fernando VII Spanish ruler. Starting from 1955, a new statue was placed the one of the homeland fathers, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, by the artist Sergio López Mesa.
The place was a public site until the edification of the Real Force Castle. Starting from this time it was destined to military exercises and, for this reason it took its name, Plaza de Armas.
Beyond the Plaza de Armas
In the southern side of the Plaza de Armas we also find a little numismatic carnival where people sell old books, ancient objects, classical cameras, coins for collection and so on. Most of these objects are old books and most of them, expensively sold in CUCs, are also available in most national book stores at very low prices (in Cuba, all the books are old), therefore, you can buy in this carnival without being stolen only when you know that the book you are looking for is only available there. Our general advice is: «Don't get involved with old stuff in Cuba if you don't know what you are doing».
Starting from Plaza de Armas you will reach all the museums and cultural places of the historic center. It will be mandatory to browser the Obispo street, the Oficios street, and the Mercaderes, which leads to another place very important of Cuba, the Plaza de San Francisco De Asís, or Pigeons Place and, from there, you can reach much more other places from the four exits of the Plaza de Armas, for example, if you exit the place from the north, you'll reach the Cathedral.
It takes more than one day to visit Old Havana and Plaza De Armas is definitively the head quarter from where all the excursions start from, just like in role playing game, where, from a common place, all the quests start.
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