Old Havana Museum Tour

About the tour

Tour of the His­tor­i­cal Cen­ter and vis­it to some of its most rep­re­sen­ta­tive museums.

Vis­it to 2 of the fol­low­ing muse­ums of the His­tor­i­cal Cen­ter at will:

City Muse­um (for­mer Palace of the Cap­i­tan Gen­er­als), House of the Arabs, José Martí’s Birth­place, Colo­nial Art Muse­um, St. Fran­cis of Assisi’s Con­vent, Goldsmith’s Muse­um, Arche­ol­o­gy Muse­um, Rev­o­lu­tion Muse­um, Capi­tol Build­ing, Rum Muse­um, Muse­um of Tobac­co, Muse­um of Fine Arts.

Old Havana Museum Tour Main Attractions

City Museum (Palacio de los Capitanes Generales)

The muse­um has sev­er­al rooms for per­ma­nent exhibits ded­i­cat­ed to the his­to­ry of the Cuban nation. Its atmos­phere is a reminder of colo­nial times. Since its inau­gu­ra­tion in 1791 the palace has housed the heads of three dif­fer­ent types of gov­ern­ments – the Span­ish gov­er­nor, the US mil­i­tary gov­er­nor, and the Pres­i­dent of Cuba up to 1920.

House of the Arabs

It pro­motes the val­ues of the Arab World through its cus­toms, tra­di­tions, art, archi­tec­ture and the study of Arab pres­ence in Cuba. Its library has an impor­tant col­lec­tion on Arab and Islam­ic sub­jects and con­tem­po­rary Arab and Islam­ic art.

Jose Marti’s birthplace

Found­ed on Jan­u­ary 28, 1925 at the house where Cuba’s Nation­al Hero was born, it is Havana’s old­est muse­um. There are exhibits from Marti’s child­hood, ado­les­cence and youth (1853 – 1870) as well as rooms with ref­er­ences to sev­er­al events linked to his life.

Colonial Art Museum

Housed in a typ­i­cal exam­ple of 18^th cen­tu­ry domes­tic archi­tec­ture, it exhibits dec­o­ra­tive arts of a tran­scen­dent era in the for­ma­tion of the Cuban iden­ti­ty. There are var­ied col­lec­tions that range from fur­ni­ture to domes­tic glass works, porce­lain, tex­tiles, paint­ings, trans­porta­tion and sil­ver­smithing that reflect the taste and cus­toms of bygone times.

Goldsmith’s Museum

The muse­um keeps a valu­able col­lec­tion of artis­tic and every day-use pieces that are exam­ples of the skills attained by Cubans, in spite of the fact that the island lacked impor­tant deposits of pre­cious met­als. Among the exhibits: jew­els, watch­es, ash­trays, ink­stands, coins and pieces of toi­letries and of wor­ship, among others.

Capitol Building (Capitolio)

Built in 1929 as the new pres­i­den­tial and gov­ern­men­tal palace, this mag­nif­i­cent build­ing copies the design of the Capi­tol build­ing in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. The build­ing marks the 0 kilo­me­ter of Cuba’s high­way system!

Did you know that…. The Capi­tol Build­ing hous­es the stat­ue which rep­re­sents the Cuban Repub­lic, a cre­ation of the Ital­ian artist Ange­lo Zanel­li, and is the third largest indoor stat­ue in the world?

Rum Museum

Near San Fran­sis­co Square, the Muse­um of Rum is housed in an old 18^th cen­tu­ry man­sion where vis­i­tors can see the dis­till­ing process of the famous Havana Club Rum (fer­men­ta­tion, fil­ter­ing, aging and blend­ing) includ­ing the grow­ing of the sug­ar cane.

National Museum of Fine Arts

It has two build­ings ded­i­cat­ed to exhibits. The Palace of Fine Arts was trans­formed into the venue of the Cuban art col­lec­tions, while the for­mer Asturi­an Cen­ter hous­es the exhibits of a uni­ver­sal character.

Museum of Tobacco

This muse­um is ded­i­cat­ed in pre­serv­ing and exhibit­ing col­lec­tions of the cul­ture gen­er­at­ed by tobac­co. Among its exhibits: instru­ments for pro­cess­ing the leaf, pipes, lighters and oth­er fit­tings of the art of smok­ing. It also boasts of a vast col­lec­tion of lith­o­graph­ic stones and cig­ar seals.