Page 111 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

VED ADO AND PLAZA  109

Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Monument (1955)
This pantheon houses Practical Information
the heroes of the Calle Zapata esq a Calle 12.
Revolutionary Map 1 C5. Tel 7830 4517.
Armed Forces. Open 8am–5pm daily. & 8

Capilla Central
Built in the late 1800s
in the middle of Avenida
Colón, the cemetery’s
main avenue, this chapel
contains frescoes by
the Cuban artist
Miguel Melero.

. Monumento a los Bomberos
This monumental homage to
the 25 fallen firefighters of a fire
that occurred in 1890 in the
Isasi hardware store was
designed by Spanish
architects Agustín Querol
and Julio Zapata.

La Milagrosa
“The Miraculous One” is the tomb
of Amelia Goyri de la Hoz, who
died in childbirth in 1901, along
with her baby. She was only 24.
In keeping with the custom of the
time, she and the child were buried
together. According to popular
legend, a few years later the tomb
was opened and she was found
intact, holding her baby in her
arms. This “miracle”, and the fact
that the bereaved husband went
to her tomb every day and
A mother placing flowers on the never turned his back to it, made
statue of La Milagrosa Amelia a symbol of motherly love.
She became the protector of
pregnant women and newborn children, and her tomb is a
pilgrimage site for future mothers, who ask for her blessing and
leave without turning their back to the tomb. The statue placed
at the tomb in 1909 is by José Villalta de Saavedra.

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