Havana Cathedral (''Catedral de la Purísima Concepción de María'') is one of eleven Catholic cathedrals on the island. It is located in the

Plaza de la Catedral Plaza de la Catedral (English: ''Cathedral Square'') is one of the four main squares in Old Havana and the site of the Cathedral of Havana from which it takes its name. Originally a swamp, it was later drained and used as a naval dockyard. Foll ...

on Calle Empedrado, between San Ignacio y Mercaderes,

Old Havana Old Havana () is the city-center (downtown) and one of the 15 municipalities (or boroughs) forming Havana, Cuba. It has the second highest population density in the city and contains the core of the original city of Havana. The positions of the ...

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana.

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

’s remains were kept in the cathedral between 1796 and 1898 before they were taken to

Seville Cathedral The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See (), better known as Seville Cathedral (), is a Catholic cathedral and former mosque in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Alc� ...

. It was built between 1748 and 1777 and was consecrated in 1782.

History

The largest missionary group in Havana was the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. After extensive petitioning and the purchase of a piece of land in the Plaza by

Diego Evelino Hurtado de Compostela Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado Vélez (1638 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain - August 29, 1704 in Havana, Cuba) was the Bishop of Diocese of Santiago de Cuba (now the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba). He was known as Bishop Diego Evelino Hurtado d ...

, Bishop of

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, a permit was granted. The cathedral is set in the former Plaza de La Ciénaga. In 1727 plans to build a church, convent and

collegium A (: ) or college was any association in ancient Rome that Corporation, acted as a Legal person, legal entity. Such associations could be civil or religious. The word literally means "society", from ("colleague"). They functioned as social cl ...

were approved and the project began to take form. The plaza is located on the site of a swamp that was drained and used as a naval dockyard before the cathedral was built. The Jesuits began construction of the cathedral in 1748 on the site of an earlier church and it was completed in 1777, well after King

Charles III of Spain Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

expelled the Jesuits from the island in 1767. The cathedral once held remains of

. In 1796, after the

Peace of Basel The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France during the French Revolution (represented by François de Barthélemy). *The first was with Prussia (represented by Karl August von Hardenberg) on 5 April; *The s ...

was signed and Spain ceded most of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the remains of Columbus were moved and laid to rest in the Havana Cathedral's ''Altar of the Gospel''. The gravestone read: ''Oh Remains and Image of Great Columbus, Be Preserved One Thousand Years in the Funerary Urn.'' The remains were returned to Spain in 1898 after the

Cuban War of Independence The Cuban War of Independence (), also known in Cuba as the Necessary War (), fought from 1895 to 1898, was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Litt ...

. In the early 19th century, the baroque altars were replaced by neoclassical ones, urged by Bishop Espada, a fervent admirer of Neoclassicism and the original wood ceilings were plastered over.

Architecture

The cathedral's

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

front elevation has asymmetrical bell towers the details of the facade are similar to those of the

San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary (Spanish: ''Seminario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio'') is a seminary in Havana, Cuba. Building As a training center where prestigious Cuban intellectuals were educated before the foundation of the University of ...

which is part of the same ecclesiastical complex. One can see fossilized marine fauna and flora in the stone walls as the cathedral is, as many buildings in Havana are, constructed out of blocks of

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

. It has a central

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, two side aisles and eight side chapels. The central arches of the nave are buttressed by eight stone flying arches located above the side aisles on the exterior of the cathedral as can be seen in the section. The flying arches, the dome over the transept or the orange

roof tiles Roof tiles are overlapping tiles designed mainly to keep out precipitation such as rain or snow, and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as clay or slate. Later tiles have been made from materials such as concrete, glass ...

cannot be seen from the square. The width of the central nave is fifteen meters. The plan forms a Latin cross.

Artworks

The cathedral contains a number of sculptures, paintings and frescoes. There is a statute of

Apolinar Serrano Apolinar Serrano (July 23, 1833 – June 15, 1876) was a Spanish bishop of Havana. He was born in Villarramiel, Spain. Buried in Havana Cathedral. His grave statue is a work by the Italian sculptor Pietro Costa.Pietro Costa. In: Ulrich Thieme, F ...

(July 23, 1833 – June 15, 1876) who was a Spanish bishop of Havana and was buried in the cathedral. Copies of paintings in the side chapels by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

and Murillo on the altars. There is a sculpture of Saint Christopher, Patron Saint of Havana, which dates from 1632 and was made by Martín de Andújar Cantos in Seville, Spain. Above the altar are three fading frescoes by Italian artist

Giuseppe Perovani Giuseppe (José) Perovani Rústica (1759-65, Pavia/Brescia - 1835, Mexico City) was an Italian painter of the Neoclassic period. He trained in Rome, and painted altarpieces in Brescia as a young man. He painted the altarpiece (and possibly the t ...

, a neoclassical artist who was commissioned by Bishop Juan José Díaz de Espada y Fernánez de Landa of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana The Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana (, ) is one of three Catholic archdioceses in Cuba.Havana
-

Jean Baptiste Vermay Jean-Baptiste Vermay (1786–1833) was a French-born Cuban painter, sculptor, caricaturist, educator, musician, and architect. He was the founding director of the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro. Biography Jean-Baptiste Vermay ...

, founder and first director of the Academy of Painting and Drawing of San Alejandro, the same creator of the interior works of the

El Templete El Templete is a monument to the initial mass of San Cristóbal de la Habana celebrated on November 16, 1519. Jean Baptiste Vermay Jean-Baptiste Vermay (1786–1833) was a French-born Cuban painter, sculptor, caricaturist, educator, musician, an ...

, in the original enclave of the city. The cathedral stands within the area of

that

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

designated a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1982.

Gallery

File:Havana Cathedral in 1880, Cuba.jpg, Havana Cathedral in a painting of 1860 by Joseph Navlet. File:La Catedral, Habana, 1900-1920. - panoramio.jpg, The Havana Cathedral, ca. 1920-1930 File:Havana-23 (45836370061).jpg, View from the square File:2012-Catedral de San Cristobal anagoria 02.JPG File:Catedral de la Virgen María de la Concepción Inmaculada de La Habana (5979454067).jpg File:Havana Cathedral (33040514796).jpg, Interior, 2017 File:Havana - Cathedral interior.jpg, Interior in 1904 File:Catedral de La Habana, Habana Vieja, Cuba. Agosto de 2016 04.jpg File:Habana Cathedral 1.jpg File:Habana Cathedral 2.jpg File:Habana Cathedral 3.jpg File:Habana Cathedral 4.jpg File:Cathedral (3209489947).jpg File:Cuba, La Habana Fortepan 61492.jpg, Havana Cathedral in 1974.

Notes

References

External links

Digital Photographic Archive of Historic HavanaPanoramic Virtual Tour in Cathedral Square"San Cristóbal Cathedral" picture gallery
{{wikidata, label, raw Roman Catholic churches in Havana 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Cuba Roman Catholic cathedrals in Cuba Spanish Colonial architecture in Cuba Roman Catholic churches completed in 1777 Tourist attractions in Havana