Plaza de Armas (Square of Arms), Havana (must see)

Square of Arms is Havana’s oldest square and was laid out in the early 16th century, soon after the city was established in its present location. Much of the architecture seen around the square today dates from the 18th century, when this area became one of the administrative and social centers of colonial Havana.

The square is closely connected with some of Old Havana’s oldest streets. On its western side stands the 18th-century Palace of the Captains General, the former residence of Spain’s colonial governors and now home to the Museum of the City. In front of the palace, notice the unusual wooden paving. According to local tradition, it was laid to soften the sound of horses and carriage wheels passing the governor’s residence.

At the center of the square, royal palms surround a marble statue of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the Cuban independence leader often called the Father of the Nation. At the northeastern corner stands El Templete, a small neoclassical monument built in the 19th century to mark the traditional site where Havana’s first Mass and town council were held in 1519.

Other notable buildings include Hotel Santa Isabel, housed in the former palace of the Counts of Santovenia on the eastern side of the square, and the National Museum of Natural History on the southern side, in a building once used by the United States Legation. On the northern side stands the Royal Force Castle, a 16th-century bastion fortress and one of the oldest surviving stone forts in the Americas.