Museums of Havana. Guide Location: Cuba» Havana # of Attractions: 6 Tour Duration: 1 hour(s) Travel Distance: 2.6 km. Please note:

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1 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 1 - Museums of Havana Havana has a rich history and was once the Spanish center of power in the Caribbean and South America. Later, it became the center of art, architecture and military power in the region. The museums in Havana can show you much of the city's history. Guide Location: Cuba» Havana # of Attractions: 6 Tour Duration: 1 hour(s) Travel Distance: 2.6 km Please note: This walk is also featured in the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" downloadable on itunes App Store and Google Play. The app provides turn-by-turn GPS navigation to guide you from one tour sight to the next, so you will never be lost. The apps offer additional walking tours in Havana. Check them out! GPSmyCity offers self-guided walking tours in over 1,000 city around the world. Please visit for more walking tour offers. List of attractions included in this self-guided walking tour: A) Casa de los Árabes B) Casa De Asia C) National Museum of Music D) Museum of the Revolution E) National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana F) Museum of Natural History Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 1 -

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4 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 4 - A) Casa de los Árabes Cuba s Muslims usually pray in their homes since there is no Mosque in Havana and the state does not allow the construction of mosques. Though former President Fidel Castro was reported to have promised to build a mosque for his country s Muslims, according to members of the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) who visited Cuba. The only prayers performed in public are the Friday Prayers that are conducted in a place known as Casa de los Árabes ("The Arab House") in old Havana. The Arab House belonged to a wealthy Arab immigrant who lived in Cuba during the 1940s, and it was built on Andalusian architectural designs. The House encompasses an Arabic museum, an Arabic restaurant, and the place is used by Muslim diplomats for Friday Prayers. Arab part donated US$ 40,000 for the remodeling of the House, but it is only opened for Friday Prayers, but Cuban Muslims are not allowed to use the facilities, which are only reserved for non Cuban Muslims: tourists and diplomats. "(The above description is based on Wikipedia under Creative Common License)" Address: Calle Obispo & Obrapía, Havana, Cuba Image Courtesy of Flickr and Paul Keller. Sight description based on Wikipedia. B) Casa De Asia Casa De Asia is sometimes called Museum of Asia, because it showcases objects from Japan and China. Most of the exhibitions focus on paintings and sculpture. Established in 1997, the Casa De Asia still grows, and aims to display more and more of the Asian culture. Operation hours: Tuesday - Saturday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm; Sunday 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Address: Mercaderes No 111, Habana Vieja, Havana, Cuba Image Courtesy of Flickr and Xuan Rosemaninovich Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 4 -

5 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 5 - C) National Museum of Music The National Museum of Music showcases different traditional Cuban musical instruments, which have become an inseparable part of Cuban music in the past centuries. Apart from guitars, vintage pianos, bongo drums and maracas, here you can see exotic instruments like a xylophone, which comes from Laos. There's a small gift shop which sells music tapes and CDs, including some quite unique Rumba recordings. Address: Capdevila No 1, Habana Vieja, Havana, Cuba Image Courtesy of Flickr and Ferrari + caballos + fuerza = cerebro Humano D) Museum of the Revolution (must see) The Museum of the Revolution is housed in what was the Presidential Palace of all Cuban presidents, through to Fulgencio Batista. It became the Museum of the Revolution during the years following the Cuban revolution. The former Presidential Palace was designed by the Cuban architect Carlos Maruri, and the Belgian architect Paul Belau, and was inaugurated in 1920 by President Mario García Menocal. It remained the presidential palace until The building has Neo-Classical elements, and was decorated by Tiffany & Co. of New York. The museum's Cuban history exhibits are largely devoted to the period of the revolutionary war of the 1950s and to the country's post-1959 history. Portions of the museum are also devoted to pre-revolutionary Cuba, including its War of Independence waged against Spain. Address: 1 Calle Refugio, Havana, Cuba Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Paul Mannix. Sight description based on Wikipedia. E) National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana (must see) The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana exhibits Cuban art collections from colonial times up through the present. It was founded on February 23, 1913, thanks to the efforts of its first director, Emilio Heredia, who was a well-known architect. The original 1954 Palacio was recently renovated and houses Cuban art collections. Spanning the 17th and 19th centuries, it has rooms devoted to landscape, religious subjects and the Costumbrismo narrative scenes of Cuban life. A gallery devoted to the 1970s, marked by a preponderance of Hyperrealism and the latest Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 5 -

6 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 6 - generation of Cuban artists whose works all reflect the strong symbolic imagery that has been most common in recent decades. The best works are those of René Portocarrero and Wifredo Lam. A modernist sculpture by noted Cuban artist Rita Lonja stands outside the main entrance. Operation hours: Tuesday - Friday 10 am - 6 pm, Saturday 10 am - 2 pm. Address: Calle Zuluera & Trocadero, Havana, Cuba Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and L'Écolier. Sight description based on Wikipedia. F) Museum of Natural History (must see) The Museum of Natural History is one of the key museums in Havana. Here, visitors can see various exhibitions of fossils, mammals, mineral samples, and even archaeological artifacts. The museum is the only one of its kind in the country and it's considered the best natural history museum in the entire Caribbean basin. It goes beyond displays, by also conducting far reaching research in almost every area of natural history. Address: Obispo, La Habana, Cuba Image Courtesy of Flickr and GorissenM Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 6 -