Guanabacoa Museum, Havana. Cuba

• ( 8 reviews)
• Calle Marti No. 108 esq. a Versalles, Havana City. Cuba
• Daily
• (537) 979117
• Destination: Havana

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The international reputation of this museum is due to the fact that it holds a complete collection of ethnography related with Afro-Cuban religious cults, with deep roots in this community in Havana.

It is place in the central part of Guanabacoa. Its rooms exhibit objects used in the rituals of the three main cults: Santeria or Regla de Ocha, Regla de Palo or Palo-Monte, and the Secret Society Abakua.

They have an extraordinary mythology, musical expressions and a rare handicraft. The Munanso room, for instance, has a reproduction of the place where the babalawo or priest makes the fortune telling rituals, surrounded by altars with catholic saints syncretized in African gods, decorated pots with the offering and the Ellegua looking with their pearl eyes from every corner.

The museum also has the costumes of the deities Ochun, Chango, Yemaya, and Obatala with their colors yellow, red and white, blue and white. In the interior patio are held music and dance sessions, related with the Afro-Cuban religious rituals.

The museum holds valuable documents, patrimonial objects and weapons that evidence the strong resistance of the inhabitants of the village to the British invasion in 1762, as well as their participation in several events related with the Independence War in Cuba.

Although Guanabacoa does not have a specific date of foundation, it is known it was growing around an aboriginal community, settled in the place before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1492.

The archeological evidence of this period are also in exhibition. This place of obligatory reference and living temple of the Afro"Cuban Culture, as the ethnologist and writer Miguel Barnet described it, was re-inagurated in August 13th, 2003, after a process of restoration.

Guanabacoa Museum Map

Guanabacoa Museum is located in Havana

Capital of Cuba and the country's administrative, political, cultural and scientific center, it is also the capital of two provinces: City of Havana and Havana. Though only around 280 square miles (727 square kilometers) in size-0.65 percent of the archipelago's total area.

The Old Havana and system of forts led UNESCO to declare it a part of world heritage in 1982. Founded on its present site in 1519, the settlement of San Cristobal de La Habana prospered mainly due to its bay, which was a natural port of call for ships sailing to and from the New World. Starting in 1634, because of its strategic location, San Cristobal de La Habana was considered the key to the New World-as attested to by royal letters patent-and the main defense of the West Indies.

The Cuban capital consists of an immense number of buildings in a wide range of architectural styles, built in the course of nearly five centuries. These styles range from the pre-baroque to the baroque, neo-Gothic, neoclassical, eclectic, art noveau and art-deco, to the modern.

Alejo Carpentier, one of Cuba's most famous authors, called it "the city of columns" and focused attention on its streets, which he considered a perennially rich show of life, humanity and contrasts that was bound to entertain any observer.

Over 14 kilometers of excellent beaches lie to the east of the Cuban capital. To the south, a green belt contributes to a healthful atmosphere.

Review about Museums: Guanabacoa Museum