La Habana Cuba Travel Agency, Founded on its present site in 1519, the
settlement of San Cristóbal de La Habana prospered mainly due to its bay,
which was a natural port of call for ships sailing to and from the New
World.
This was one of the main historic reasons for the subsequent
development of a city noted for its architectural diversity and whose
nucleus-which still contains an exceptional collection of buildings put
up around public squares, both large and small-and system of forts led
UNESCO to declare it a part of world heritage in 1982.
La Habana Cuba Travel Agency, Over eight and a half miles (14 kilometers) of excellent
beaches lie to the east of the Cuban capital, which is symbolized by the
Giraldilla. To the south, a green belt contributes to a healthful atmosphere.
The city itself is a cultural center with a solid infrastructure of hotels
and is prepared to host all kinds of conferences and congresses. Alejo
Carpentier, one of Cuba's most famous authors, called it "the city of
columns" and focused attention on its streets, which he considered a perennially
rich show of life, humanity and contrasts that was bound to entertain
any observer.
The settlement of San Cristóbal de La Habana, which was
founded in the southwestern part of the island in 1514, was moved to the
northern coast of the port of Carenas in 1519. Every November 16, the
anniversary of its founding is observed with a picturesque traditional
ceremony at the Templete, around an ancient silk-cotton tree in whose
shade-according to the oral tradition-the first meeting of the town council
and the first Mass were held.
Capital of Cuba and the country's administrative, political,
cultural and scientific center, it is also the capital of two provinces:
City of Havana and Havana. Though only around 280 square miles (727 square
kilometers) in size-0.65 percent of the archipelago's total area-it is
where 20 percent of the Cuban people live.
Starting in 1634, because of its strategic location,
San Cristóbal de La Habana was considered the key to the New World-as
attested to by royal letters patent-and the main defense of the West Indies.
The Cuban capital consists of an immense number of buildings
in a wide range of architectural styles, built in the course of nearly
five centuries. These styles range from the pre-baroque to the baroque,
neo-Gothic, neoclassical, eclectic, art nouveau and art-deco, to the modern La Habana Cuba Travel Agency.
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