Cuba opens new Fidel Castro museum

Cuba is on the verge of opening a new Fidel Castro museum. The Centro de Fidel Castro Ruz, straddling an entire city block on Paseo between Calles 11 and 13 in Havana’s leafy el Vedado neighbourhood, is scheduled to open to the public tomorrow. The date marks the 62nd anniversary of Castro’s triumphal march into the Cuban capital on January 8th 1959.

The Centre features displays on Cuban Revolution history, interactive exhibits, an amphitheatre, sculptures, and is landscaped with plants from the Sierra Maestra, the eastern region of the island which was home to Castro’s 26th of July Movement rebel base in 1958. In January 1959, Fidel claimed victory for his Cuban Revolution in nearby Santiago de Cuba. Fig trees, palms, coffee, cedar, gardenia, and bougainvillea dot the grounds. 

Visitors will use apps and augmented reality tech plus digital panel displays to make their way around the exhibits detailing the story of Fidel. A programme of concerts and art shows will be staged at the complex.

The Centro de Fidel Castro Ruz is built on, and around, the site of one of Havana’s most illustrious society homes. The mansion sitting on the gentle slope of Paseo with its marble steps and stained glass windows was the home of society darling Lily Hidalgo de Conill. Lily entertained Havana’s elite in her elegant salon furnished with the finest furniture and illuminated by an enormous chandelier. In 1899 Emilia (Lily) Hidalgo Borges married Enrique Juan Conill y Rafecas, banker and businessman whose family’s fortune was built on tobacco. Enrique also represented Cuba in sailing in the 1924 French Olympic Games at Le Havre ranking ninth with his two fellow Cuban sailors in the six metre class at the age of 46.

Model diagram of new Centro de Fidel Castro Ruz, Paseo, el Vedado, Havana, Cuba

Gran Salón of the Casa de Lily Hidalgo de Conill (date unknown). Photographer: Rafael B Santa Coloma