Cuba’s City of Trinidad, An Open Air Museum
March 10, 2025 Hour: 6:05 am
The villa of the Holy Trinity, the third founded by the Spanish Crown in Cuba, was probably established at the beginning of 1514, with Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar present. Although the exact date is uncertain, it lies between 23 December 1513 and 4 January 1514. Due to its rapid development, Trinidad became one of the most prosperous towns in Cuba.
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Trinidad’s history is tied to the sugar industry. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the city prospered thanks to the sugar trade, which is reflected in its well-preserved colonial architecture.
During the first half of the 20th century, Trinidad experienced significant isolation from other neighboring cities due to the lack of road infrastructure, which preserved its colonial architecture from the influences of neoclassical and Art Deco. For this reason, Trinidad is today almost an open-air museum, with cobbled streets whose cobblestones are more than 200 years old, palaces of the nineteenth century, and parks that still abound in colonial lordship.
Trinidad stands out as the Cuban municipality with the highest concentration of museums per inhabitant, with the five most important being located in its historic center. Among them, the Romantic Museum was the first to be founded and is one of the most visited. In addition to the Municipal Museums (Palacio Cantero), Guamuhaya Archaeology (Casa de Padrón) and Colonial Architecture (home of the Sanchéz family), there is the Casa de la Trova, a space for popular music. Just outside of Trinidad, the Torre Manaca – Iznaga and Cayo Blanco, with their beach, marine and land fauna, are also important tourist attractions.
Romantic Museum, also known as Palacio Brunet is located in No. 52 of Calle Cristo, Trinidad, was initially built in 1740 and extended in 1808, belonging to several illustrious families. After various uses and a restoration, it was inaugurated as a Romantic Museum in 1974, being the first building in the Villa to acquire this institutional character. It stands out for its valuable collection of decorative arts that recreates the nineteenth century atmosphere, as well as for its domestic architecture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, combining Mudéjar and neoclassical styles and highlighting its Andalusian courtyard, considered one of the most beautiful in Cuba.
On the other hand, the Guamuhaya Museum of Archaeology, exhibits artifacts from pre-Columbian Aboriginal communities such as the Tainas and Caribes and many colonial objects in the old Padrón House, while the Museum of Colonial Architecture, located in the old house of the Sanchéz family, shows how the architectural development of the city was reflected in housing through the centuries.
The coast of Trinidad presents remarkable contrasts: to the east of the peninsula of Ancón predominate beaches of fine sand that extend for more than four kilometers, while the beach María Aguilar offers a more intimate environment with remarkable seabed. Ancón is considered many times as the best beach of the Cuban southern coast, and one of the best in the whole archipelago.
Cayo Blanco offers an exceptional diving experience with coral formations up to 5 meters high, caves, tunnels and narrow canals. The Ancón area is home to a rich marine biodiversity, including tropical fish, sponges, jellyfish and more than 40 species of corals, such as black corals. There are three different diving areas with platforms, terraces and sites near Cayo Blanco, characterized by the presence of marine sponges of various colors and sizes.
The city is also surrounded by two main geographical structures: the Heights of Trinidad, a strongly dissected mountainous area belonging to the Massif of Guamuhaya that comprises more than 70% of the area, with heights between 400 and 800 m and the Pico Potrerillo as its highest point (931 m); and the karstic topography present both in the mountains and on the Monoclinales heights and the west coast, highlighting the cave system of La Cantoja Valley, which houses remains of indigenous settlements. This geographical feature makes the city be framed between beautiful mountainous landscapes and the Caribbean sea, so muvhas sometimes is known as “the city between the mountains and the sea.”
Autor: ACJ