Hotels - Beltran de Santa Cruz

About  Beltran de Santa Cruz

The mansion restored and converted by the Office of the City Historian of Havana into the Hotel Beltrán de Santa Cruz is only a moment’s walk down San Ignacio Street from one of Old Havana’s most beautiful squares, the Plaza Vieja. The Plaza is the old city’s only purely residential square. It was laid out in the late sixteenth century by the disgruntled citizenry after the commander of the Fuerza Castle had appropriated the Plaza de Armas for military exercises, thus depriving the habaneros of their public promenade-ground.

Plaza Vieja is surrounded by pretty colonial palaces and the Hotel Beltrán de Santa Cruz dates from the same period. It was built by the parents of Gabriel Beltrán de Santa Cruz y Aranda, who in 1770 received the title of Count of Jaruco and set up house nearby in the beautiful palace still known as the Casa de los Condes de Jaruco.

The mansion which was to become the Hotel Beltrán de Santa Cruz subsequently passed to the descendants of one of Havana’s most illustrious citizens, the Marquis of Cárdenas de Monte Hermoso. His guests over the years included the eminent German scientist Baron Alexander von Humboldt and three French princes: the Count of Beaujolais, the Duke of Montpensier and the Duke of Orleans, who later became Louis Philippe I of France.

Hotel Beltrán de Santa Cruz's gracious colonial architecture and interior design, and its proximity to the heart of the city’s historical centre, make it an extremely attractive option for aficionados of history and architecture.

 

Calle Oficios, esq Muralla, Plaza de San Francisco de Asís, La Habana

Alejandro de Humboldt Museum

The Museo Alejandro de Humboldt (Alejandro de Humboldt Museum) is located in a Colonial house in Plaza de San Francisco de Asís Square, in Old Havana, Cuba. Its name comes from the German scientist Alejandro von Humboldt, who is seen as the second person to discover Cuba. This is a scientific museum dedicated to biology and its main objective is to preserve research and promote the historical Humboldt’s legacy. This institution enhances the labor of Cuban and international personalities whose contributions are considered relevant for the development of culture in general terms. It exhibits the historical trajectory of the scientific and botanic data he compiled throughout the island at the beginning of the 19th century, as well as a botanic exhibition which is fundamentally made up of ferns. In this museum there is a perfect copy of a Kritosaurus skeleton found in the desert and donated by the Mexican government, as well as an enormous Pterosaur skeleton, which is around 10 meters length. The House also has a conference room with capacity for 100 persons and a specialized library on German literature.

Avenida de México, esq Arroyo, La Habana

Train Museum

The Museo del Ferrocarril (Train Museum) of Havana is located in the old Cristina Station, built in 1859. The museum exhibits a great collection of old locomotives, photographs, and signaling materials, as well as an interesting review of the Cuban trains history. Cuba was one of the first countries in the world to build a rail network, and the trains on the island began to run at least a decade before those in Spain. In this museum you’ll find steam engine locomotives for broad and narrow rails, as well as diesel and electric locomotives. One of the most important items in the museum is the La Junta de Fomento Locomotive, bought in the US in 1842. The museum also houses an area which reproduces the operations room of a train station in the first half of the 20th century; and a Railway Modelling Room which exhibits scale models of stations and railway equipments.

Oficios, e/ Amargura y Churruca, Habana Vieja

San Francisco de Asís Church and Convent

The San Francisco de Asís Church and Convent is the current scenario of the richest cultural traditions. This is one of the most extraordinary convent and church complex of the colonial time. The construction of the current set dates from 1738, and it replaced a more modest one completed in 1591. After a restoration in the nineties, the architectural group has harbored, also, a concert hall and the Holy, Sacred and Religious Art museums. The most significant element of the Church is the Tower 42 meters of height, second in altitude at the colonial time. 

Ave Carlos Manuel Céspedes y Santa Clara, Habana Vieja, La Habana

Nuestra Señora de Kazán Orthodox Cathedral

The Catedral Ortodoxa de Nuestra Señora de Kazán (Nuestra Señora de Kazán Orthodox Cathedral), declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is one of the newest constructions in Havana, being built in 2000. This Russian Orthodox church is Byzantine in style. It has six beautiful domes, two of which (the biggest and smallest) are gold-sheeted, and the rest are made of bronze. Its staircase entrance calls our attention and is considered the second largest staircase of all outside Russia. From the interior, its golden altar stands out, built in Trinidad and the San Sergio Monastery, Russia; and the murals adorning its walls.

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Apr 2025

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