Page 80 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

78  HA V ANA AREA B Y AREA

w Plaza de San Attached to the church is a
Francisco large, 42-m (138-ft) high bell
tower. Originally a statue of
Map 4 F2. Basílica Menor de San St Francis of Assisi stood on the
Francisco de Asís: Tel 7862 9683. top, but it was badly damaged
Open 9:30am–6:30pm daily. by a cyclone in 1846.
Closed 1 Jan, 1 May, 26 Jul, 10 Oct, In the cloister and rooms of
25 Dec. & 8
the adjacent monastery, which
Bordering the port, this dates back to 1739, is a museum
picturesque square has an of holy art with 18th–19th-
Andalusian character and century missals, a collection of
evokes images of a distant votive objects made of precious
age when galleons loaded metals, and 16th–18th-century
with gold and other cargo majolica and ceramics.
set sail for Spain. In the middle
of the square is the Fuente de
los Leones, modelled on the The Fuente de los Leones, Plaza de e Museo del Ron
famous fountain in the Alhambra San Francisco Calle San Pedro 262. Map 4 F3.
in Granada. This work by the Tel 7861 8051. Open 9:30am–5:30pm
Italian sculptor Giuseppe 1580–91 as the home of the Mon–Thu, 9am–4:30pm Fri–Sun. &
Gaggini was donated in 1836 Franciscan community and 8 = -
by the fiscal superintendent, partly rebuilt in the 1700s.
Don Claudio Martínez de The three-aisle interior has a The manufacture of Havana
Pinillos, the Count of Villanueva, Latin cross layout and contains Club, the most famous brand
and for many years it supplied some paintings by unknown of Cuban rum, is displayed
the ships docked here with 18th-century Cuban artists and here with visuals and models
drinking water. a wooden statue of St Francis that explain the production
The original commercial dating from the same period, process of the spirit described
nature of the area can be seen again by an unknown as the “cheerful child
in two buildings: the Aduana artist. The basilica also of sugar cane” by
General de la Repúb lica (the old has the remains of Cuban writer and
customs house), built in 1914, major Havana journalist Fernando
and the Lonja del Comercio citizens, from the Campoamor, a friend
(the former stock exchange, Marquis González, of Ernest Hemingway.
1908), with a dome crowned who died during the The organized tours
by a statue of Mercury, god of British siege of 1762, Logo of the Havana begin in the colonial
commerce. Restored in 1995, to José Martín Félix de Club Foundation courtyard of the Havana
this building houses the offices Arrate, an illustrious Club Found ation. After
of some of the top foreign firms historian of the colonial period. watching a brief film on the
now operating in Cuba. Because of its excep tional history of sugar cane and its
The most important building acoustics, this church has been cultivation, visitors are taken
in the square, however, is converted into a concert hall through rooms with exhibits
the Basílica Menor de San for choral and chamber music that explain the fermentation,
Francisco de Asís, built in every Saturday at 6pm (see p129). distillation (in a room with old
alembics), filtration,
ageing, blending and
bottling processes.
In the central hall is a
fascinating model of
an ingenio (see pp46–7),
or sugar plantation,
which also includes a
miniature steam train.
Tours end in a bar
where visitors can relax
and sample three-year-
old rum. The street-
front bar also serves
excellent cocktails and
often has live music;
it is open from 9am to
midnight. The shop sells
rum, glassware and
Interior of the basilica of San Francisco, now used for chamber music concerts various souvenirs.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p256 and p270

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