Get to know, through the magic of music, one of the most sung cities of Cuba. Indeed Cienfuegos has been source of inspiration for many composers and poets, enchanted by its charm.
The city is inspired by the classical language that has come with those French settlers that, on April 22, 1819, decided to establish it. Through its development and architecture you can discover spaces and buildings of high value, designed in a historic urban center that has the connotation of a National Monument.
The Main Square, or park José Martí, differentiated by the large scale, is the setting for prestigious buildings like the theater "Tomás Terry", one of the only theaters trilogy of 19th century "Italian style" left in Cuba, the cathedral which broke the perfection of the neoclassical style, with its two unequal towers, the old Colegio San Lorenzo, impeccable in his eclectic fine workmanship, the Government Palace, with the majesty of its repeated facades, testifying the good state of preservation of the city, and the so-called "arc of workers", the one-of-a-kind memorial building in the country, to constantly remind the affiliation with an educated, rational France, a cradle of a unique art heritage. And yet the Paseo del Prado, recognized as the longest in the country, which shows the variety of local building styles and gives the steps of the traveler a pleasant walkway bringing to the matchless, beautiful bay; the new square which, in the splendor of the landscape, offers an endless array of possibilities for a fun and pleasant stay, is a gateway to another important area, which is also considered a National Monument for the richness of its wooden architecture: the Palace of the Asturian merchant Acisclo del Valle; and yet the influence of American modernism in buildings and sculpture Guanaroca, remembering one of the most beautiful Aboriginal legends of the pre-Columbian past.
The bay, one of the most important resources of the territory, was made prestigious since the visit of the first Spanish settlers in the 15th century. Thanks to its trade and support potential, building the fortress of Our Lady of the Angels of Jaguait at the entrance had become necessary, in order to avoid the continuous raids of corsairs and pirates who used it as a refuge and supply port for smuggling. This colonial military construction, unique in the center of Cuba, is another of the national monuments that form the heritage of Cienfuegos.
The Escambray mountains surround from the east the urban and the maritime environment and allow us to delve into the priceless beauty of the natural world. Flora and fauna of unparalleled charm, together with the rural traditions of high social and cultural value, are the essence of another aspect of the rural identity of Cienfuegos.
City, bay and nature are the pillars on which rests the magic of this region's incommensurable charm of the landscape and its people, which is known to the world as "the pearl of the south" and "the beautiful city of the sea."
Teresita Rodríguez Chepe (famous researcher from Cienfuegos)
