Page 93 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

CENTRO HABANA AND PR ADO  91

0 Iglesia del Ángel
Custodio
Calle Compostela 2, esq. Cuarteles.
Map 4 D2. Tel 7861 0469.
Open 8:30am–6pm Mon–Fri, 8:30am–
noon Sun. 5 9am Mon, Fri & Sun,
5pm Tue–Thu.
Built in 1693 on the Peña Pobre
or “Loma del Ángel” hill as a
Children playing in the shade during school break hermitage and then transformed
into a church in 1788, today the
0 metres 60 Neo-Gothic Ángel Custodio looks
rather too white and unreal as
0 yards 60
a result of vigorous “restoration”.
Standing in a key position
between the former presidential
palace (now the Museo de la
Revolución) and the old town,
it exudes literary references.
The 19th-century Cuban novelist
Cirilo Villaverde (see p32) used
the Loma del Ángel hill as the
setting for his story Cecilia Valdés
about the tragic love affair
between a Creole woman
and a rich white man.
Félix Varela (see p32) and
José Martí (see p49) were both
baptised in this church.

Restored Buildings
These porticoed buildings were built along the
avenue in the late 19th to early 20th century
as private homes. They have been carefully
restored, and the original bright pastel
colours have been brought back to life.
The bell tower and spires of the church of
Ángel Custodio
Graham Greene in Havana
The classic espionage thriller Our Man in Havana (1958), by the
English author Graham Greene, is an excellent description of
Street Lamps Havana at the eve of the Revolution. In the
Elegant wrought- book Greene narrates the adventures of
iron street lamps a vacuum cleaner salesman who
were added in 1834, becomes a secret agent against his
together with the will. The novel is imbued with a dry
multi coloured sense of humour, and is set against
marble pavement.
an intriguing environment filled with
casinos and roulette wheels, New York
skyscrapers and decadent Art
Nouveau villas, cabarets and
prostitution. The Hotel Sevilla
is a constant presence in
the background. Graham Greene (1904–91)

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