Hotels - Armadores de Santander

About  Armadores de Santander

The Hotel Armadores de Santander (which means ‘Shipowners of Santander’) overlooks the port of Havana. The building’s facade, with its stone reliefs of the coat of arms of Santander surrounded by maritime motifs, is wonderfully evocative of the city’s seagoing past.

Havana’s entire raison to be, was the excellence of its natural harbour and its strategic position within the Spanish Empire in the Americas. Nowhere is this easier to appreciate than from a balcony of the Armadores de Santander. The building was commissioned by Don José Cabrero Mier, a native of that city. Many important Havana shipowners maintained offices there, notably Don Ramón Herrera y Sancibrián, Count of Mortera, who after beginning his career as a weaver in the Spanish town of Mortera was driven by poverty to emigrate and try his luck in Cuba. Here he became a hugely successful banker and shipowner. During the Cuban Wars of Independence Don Ramón dedicated a part of his fleet to the service of the Spanish crown, for which he was rewarded with his title. 

The Hotel Armadores de Santander was restored and is run by the Office of the City Historian of Havana, so all its profits are reinvested in the restoration of the city’s historical centre. Anyone keen on maritime history and the comings and goings of ships will love it. From early morning until late at night boats pass to and fro in front of the hotel and the views of the twinkling harbour lights in the evening, and the rising sun gleaming on the smooth water before the morning breeze gets up, are impossibly romantic.

 

Calle Mercaderes No.120, Habana Vieja, La Habana

Tobacco Museum

The Museo del Tabaco (Tobacco Museum) is located within an 18th century building that belonged to the Bartolomé Luque family, in Calle Mercaderes Street, Old Havana. This museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of collections related to the plantations, production and commercialization of Cuban tobacco. It exhibits a large collection of pipes, leaves and other related items, as well as a collection of lithographic stones and machines of important cigar companies. The museum has a small shop where you’ll be able to get different Havana cigars and items for smokers.

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.

Calle Mercaderes esq. Lamparilla, Habana Vieja, La Habana

Firefighters Museum

The Museo de Bomberos (Firefighters Museum) is located in the same place where more than 20 firemen died during a great fire. The purpose of this museum is to promote fire prevention throughout the population and to recognize the great work firemen do. The museum contains a bronze sculpture of a fireman, several water tanks, firefighter uniforms, and other related items. It also has an auditorium and offers guided tours and fire prevention courses for children and teenagers.

Oficios, e/ Amargura y Churruca, Habana Vieja

San Francisco de Asís Square

This square dates back to the first half of the 17th century. Its location, just a few metres from the bay, led to it becoming an important trading square over the years. It is said that around the year 1600 the first fountain of the city could be seen at this square. In 1836 it was replaced by a beautiful fountain made of white Carrara marble by Giuseppe Gaggini, under the good auspices of the Villanueva Count. This fountain is called Fuente de los Leones (Lions Fountain). On its paved area stand two noteworthy buildings: the Monastery and Basilica of San Francisco de Asís, which today houses the Museum of Religious Art and a concert hall. It is also where the Lonja del Comercio (Chamber of Commerce) is located, inspired by Spanish Renaissance architecture and topped by a dome on which a sculpture of the god Mercury stands. Among the houses built around the plaza, the house of the Arostegui family, residence of the Captain Generals until the completion of the City Hall at the end of the 18th century, was erected.

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