Opened on November 19, 2002, the Railway Museum is housed in the former Cristina railway station, headquarters of the Western Railway of Havana. Cuba was the sixth country in the world to develop a ra …

Adjoining Fototeca on the square’s east side, the Planetarium is an interactive cultural center inaugurated on December 21, 2009. It provides a fascinating look into the origins and structure of the u …

Rising over the plaza off the southeast corner is Palacio Cueto. Built in 1906 with an elaborately adorned façade featuring griffins, satyrs and other mythical figures, it’s reminiscent of the moderni …

The Casa de Las Tejas Verdes (literally, House of the Green Tiles) was designed by architect José Luis Echarte and built in 1926. It is unique in Cuba for being the only example of the German renaissa …

One block east of the plaza, the State-run Museum of Automobiles, previously known as the Depósito del Automóvil, showcases a collection of almost 50 vehicles from 1905 to 1989, includes cars, trucks, …

One block southeast of Plaza de San Francisco, on Avenida del Puerto, stands the ochre-colored former mansion of the Conde de la Montera. Beyond its ornate doorway is a promotional center—the Museo de …

Opened in 2004 in the building where the old pharmacy La Reunión was located, this museum is considered the most important pharmaceutical complex in Cuba and one of the largest and most beautiful in t …

History & architecture Considered an engineering marvel, this fortress on the plaza’s northeast corner is one of the oldest European defensive structures in the Americas, and the first built to gu …

Despite appearing to be of the colonial era, the building on the plaza’s southwest side dates from the early 20th-century, when it served as the U.S. Embassy in the years immediately following indepen …

Opened in October, 1998, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the National Ballet of Cuba, this museum features objects mainly from Alicia Alonso’s collection, as well as documentaries, costumes a …