Monuments and Statues
A fiercely independent people, Cubans have striven for national sovereignty throughout periods of Spanish colonialism, U.S. imperialism, and Soviet-dominated communism. Below are some of the monuments and statuary representing key people and events in Cuba's past and present.
After "discovering" Cuba in 1492, Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain, and it remained a colony until 1898. Its strategic location and urbanized society made it a vital Caribbean port for the Spanish empire.
An Alma Mater statue cast by Mario Korbel welcomes visitors to the Universidad de la Habana, one of the oldest universities in the Americas. In the years leading up to the Cuban Revolution, the University was temporarily closed by dictator Fulgencio Batista after it became a home to anti-government protests.
José Martí (1853-1895) was an influential figure in the fight against Spanish colonial rule in the 1890s. Though he was killed in combat soon after the war for Cuban independence began, his writings and political activity outlived him and earned him the moniker the "Apostle of Cuban Independence."
This commemorative sculpture featuring Fidel Castro proclaims the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution. The Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed regime of President Fulgencio Batista on July 1, 1959 and led to the formation of a socialist state.
The Girón museum memorializes Cuba's decisive victory during the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion (known in Cuba as the Invasión de Playa Girón), when a CIA-backed paramilitary group of Cuban exiles unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Castro's government.
Ernest Hemingway is perhaps one of the more notable U.S. Americans who lived in Cuba during the mid-20th century. Though Hemingway initially expressed strong public support of Castro's overthrow of Batista in 1959, he left the island upon learning of Castro's plan to nationalize U.S.-owned property.
In one of the world's great historical cemeteries, Cementerio Colón, stately family memorials stand side by side with empty or desecrated tombs. The latter are often owned by Cuban expatriates who have not been able to care for their dead since leaving the island in exile.
"La Conversación" (Conversation) sculpture was donated to the city of Havana in 2012 as a gesture of friendship between France and Cuba. In recent decades, the European Union as a whole has been more open than the United States to restoring bilateral understandings and commercial agreements with Cuba.