1.
Art Deco
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Art Deco, sometimes simply referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It took its name, short for Arts Decorators, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925 and it combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. It featured rare and expensive materials such as ebony and ivory, the Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York were the most visible monuments of the new style. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic, a more sleek form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s, it featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco became one of the first truly international architectural styles, with examples found in European cities, the style came to an end with the beginning of World War II. Deco was replaced as the dominant global style by the functional and unadorned styles of modernism. The term arts décoratifs was first used in France in 1858, in 1868, Le Figaro newspaper used the term art décoratifs with respect to objects for stage scenery created for the Théâtre de lOpéra. In 1875, furniture designers, textile, jewelry and glass designers and it took its present name of ENSAD in 1927. The term Art déco was then used in a 1966 newspaper article by Hillary Gelson in the Times, describing the different styles at the exhibit. Art Deco gained currency as a broadly applied stylistic label in 1968 when historian Bevis Hillier published the first major book on the style. Hillier noted that the term was already being used by art dealers and cites The Times, in 1971, Hillier organized an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which he details in his book about it, The World of Art Deco. The emergence of Art Deco was closely connected with the rise in status of decorative artists, the term arts décoratifs had been invented in 1875, giving the designers of furniture, textiles, and other decoration official status. The Société des artistes décorateurs, or SAD, was founded in 1901, a similar movement developed in Italy. The first international exhibition devoted entirely to the arts, the Esposizione international dArte decorative moderna, was held in Turin in 1902. Several new magazines devoted to decorative arts were founded in Paris, including Arts et décoration, Decorative arts sections were introduced into the annual salons of the Sociéte des artistes français, and later in the Salon dautomne. French nationalism also played a part in the resurgence of decorative arts, in 1911 the SAD proposed the holding of a major new international exposition of decorative arts in 1912
2.
Vedado
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Vedado is a central business district and urban neighborhood in the city of Havana, Cuba. In 2016 it was described by one commentator as the citys most affluent section, the main street running east to west is Calle 23, also known as La Rampa. The northern edge of the district is the waterfront seawall known as the Malecón, Vedado is a ward of the municipality Plaza de la Revolución. Among the notable sites in Vedado are the hotels, Hotel Nacional de Cuba, nearby neighborhoods include, To the east, Central Havana To the west, Miramar Aero Caribbean has its headquarters in Vedado. Instituto de Aeronáutica Civil de Cuba, Cubas civil aviation authority, has its headquarters in Vedado, 23rd Street in Vedado is also the centerpoint of the citys gay scene in a country which now grants many rights to LGBT citizens. Many of the casas particulares target LGBT clients as customers, hotels in Vedado, Havana Travel and tourism
3.
Havana
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Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet, the sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay. King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City in 1592, walls as well as forts were built to protect the old city. The sinking of the U. S. battleship Maine in Havanas harbor in 1898 was the cause of the Spanish–American War. Contemporary Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one, Old Havana, Vedado and the suburban districts. The city is the center of the Cuban government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses, the current mayor is Marta Hernández of the Communist Party of Cuba. In 2009, the city/province had the third highest income in the country, the city attracts over a million tourists annually, the Official Census for Havana reports that in 2010 the city was visited by 1,176,627 international tourists, a 20% increase from 2005. Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, the city is also noted for its history, culture, architecture and monuments. As typical of Cuba, Havana also features a tropical climate, in May 2015, Havana was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, La Paz, Durban, Beirut, and Kuala Lumpur. Most native settlements became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining their original Taíno names, an alternate theory is that Habana is derived from the Middle Dutch word havene, referring to a harbour, etymologically related to the English word haven. All attempts to found a city on Cubas south coast failed, however, an early map of Cuba drawn in 1514 places the town at the mouth of this river. The town that became Havana finally originated adjacent to what was then called Puerto de Carenas, the quality of this natural bay, which now hosts Havanas harbor, warranted this change of location. Pánfilo de Narváez gave Havana – the sixth town founded by the Spanish on Cuba – its name, the name combines San Cristóbal, patron saint of Havana. Shortly after the founding of Cubas first cities, the served as little more than a base for the Conquista of other lands. Havana began as a port, and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates. The first attack and resultant burning of the city was by the French corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555, ships from all over the New World carried products first to Havana, in order to be taken by the fleet to Spain. The thousands of ships gathered in the bay also fueled Havanas agriculture and manufacture, since they had to be supplied with food, water. On December 20,1592, King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City, later on, the city would be officially designated as Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies by the Spanish Crown
4.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
5.
Old Havana
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Old Havana is the city-center and one of the 15 municipalities forming Havana, Cuba. It has the second highest population density in the city and contains the core of the city of Havana. The positions of the original Havana city walls are the boundaries of Old Havana. Old Havana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Havana Vieja was founded by the Spanish in 1519 in the natural harbor of the Bay of Havana. It became a point for the treasure laden Spanish Galleons on the crossing between the New World and the Old World. In the 17th century it was one of the shipbuilding centers. The city was built in baroque and neoclassic style, many buildings have fallen in ruin in the later half of the 20th century, but a number are being restored. The narrow streets of Old Havana contain many buildings, accounting for perhaps as many as one-third of the approximately 3,000 buildings found in Old Havana and it is the ancient city formed from the port, the official center and the Plaza de Armas. In 1555 Old Havana was destroyed and burned by the French corsair Jacques de Sores, the pirate had taken Havana easily, plundering the city and burning much of it to the ground. After limiting the scarce defenders, De Sores left without obtaining the wealth that he was hoping to find in Havana. The city remained devastated and set on fire, since the incident, the Spanish brought soldiers and started building fortresses and walls to protect the city. Castillo de la Real Fuerza was the first fortress built, initiated in 1558, Old Havana resembles Cadiz and Tenerife. Alejo Carpentier called it de las columnas, but it could also be named for the gateways, the revoco, the deterioration and the rescue, the intimacy, the shade, the cool, the courtyards. In her there are all the big ancient monuments, the forts, the convents and churches, the palaces, the alleys, the arcade, the human density. The Cuban State has undertaken efforts to preserve and to restore Old Havana through the efforts of the Office of the Historian of the City. The Malecón is the avenue runs along the seawall at the northern shore of Havana. The Paseo del Prado, Havana is the street forms the western edge of Old Havana. Castillo del Morro, picturesque fortress guarding the entrance to Havana bay, the construction of the castle Los Tres Reyes del Morro owed to the step along in Havana of the English pirate Sir Francis Drake
6.
Coppelia (ice cream parlor)
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Coppelia is an ice cream parlor chain in Cuba. Coppelia is state-run and sells in both Cuban pesos and Cuban convertible pesos, havanas Coppelia, for instance, employs more than 400 workers and serves 4,250 US gallons of ice cream to 35,000 customers each day. When business started in 1966, it ran with a count of 26 flavors and 25 combinations. Today, lines are long and the supply and selection of flavors is scarce. Havanas Coppelia is a Cuban Revolution modernist building from 1966, the flying-saucer-shaped building represents a UFO that has landed in Havana. Is one of the largest ice cream parlors in the world, the original aim was to produce more ice cream flavors than the big American brands, buying the best machines from the Netherlands and Sweden. Fidels longtime secretary, Celia Sánchez, named Coppelia after her favorite ballet Coppélia, the site of Coppelia Havana was the Hospital Reina Mercedes, functioning from 1886–1954. The hospital was demolished and originally there were plans to build another hospital on the site, the plans then changed and a 50-story skyscraper was to be built on the site, but these plans fell through. A tourism promotion pavilion, Parque INIT, then occupied the site, mario Girona was the architect of the new ice cream palace built on the site in 1966. Populist ideology helped shape the design and use of the public space, the park area surrounding the building features lush groundcover and a canopy of towering Banyan trees which provide shade for open-air dining areas. Curvilinear paths lead to a circular pavilion inside of which the only indoor seating is located. In March 2012 Venezuela announced plans to cooperate with Cuba to build a Coppelia ice cream plant in the country, among the problems were broken freezers. Location, 1st avenue, between 44 &26 streets, Varadero, Matanzas, originally designed as a multipurpose solution for beach goers. Varadero, though it was a vacation spot with several stay-in hotels. To solve this problem, Varaderos Coppelia included a floor with 8000 lockers. At ground level, it has a cafeteria and the ice cream parlor surrounded by a park and this level offers view into the gardens using a double curving rail of hyperbolic paraboloids, frequent in the Latin American architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. The complex was first called the 8000 lockers park, the complex was revitalized in 2008 following a project led by architect Noriel Santamaría Sánchez. For the rescue of this landmark the Magazine Obras granted a first prize in restoration to its authors, location, Corner of Mujica and Colón streets, Santa Clara, Villa Clara
7.
El Capitolio
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El Capitolio, or National Capitol Building in Havana, Cuba, was the seat of government in Cuba until after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and is now home to the Cuban Academy of Sciences. El Capitolio has a size of 681 by 300 ft and its design and name recall the United States Capitol in Washington, D. C. Completed in 1929, it was the tallest building in Havana until the 1950s, the project began on April 1926, during the Gerardo Machado administration. Construction was overseen by the U. S. firm of Purdy, prior to the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Cuban Congress was housed in the building. When the Congress was abolished and disbanded following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, later it ended up as the headquarters of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment. As of 2013, the Government of Cuba is restoring the building for use again as the home of Cubas National Assembly. According to its designer, Eugenio Rayneri Piedra, who had studied architecture in the United States, in the original design the dome was to be decorated with stylised palm leaves but this addition was never executed. At almost 92 m high, the dome was the highest point in the city of Havana until the 1950s and it was the third highest cupola in the world at the time of its construction. Around the building are laid out by French landscape architect. Based on the designs of some of the beautiful simple European gardens they consist of areas of lawn bordered by paths, four groups of Royal Palms accent the design. The 55 steps leading to the entrance, known as La Escalinata are flanked on either side by 6.5 m statues by the Italian artist Angelo Zanelli. To the left is Work and to the right The Tutelary Virtue, the steps lead up to the central portico, which is 36 m wide and more than 16 m tall. There are 12 granite Roman style columns arranged in two rows and each over 14 m tall, beyond the portico, three large bronze doors with bas-reliefs by Zanelli allow access to the main hall. The inside of the hall under the cupola is dominated by the huge Statue of the Republic. The statue, also by Zanelli, was cast in bronze in Rome in three pieces and assembled inside the building after its arrival in Cuba and it is covered with 22 carat gold leaf and weighs 49 tons. At 15 m tall, it was the second highest statue under cover in the world at the time, the statue stands on a plinth 2.5 m high bringing the total height to 17.54 m. A Creole Cuban, Lily Valty served as the model for the body for Zanelli, and the inspiration for the statue came from Athena, embedded in the floor in the centre of the main hall is a replica 25 carat diamond, which marks Kilometre Zero for Cuba. To either side of the hall is the Salón de Pasos Perdidos
8.
Tropicana Club
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Tropicana, also known as Tropicana Club, is a world-known cabaret and club in Havana, Cuba. It was launched in 1939 at Villa Mina, a suburban estate with lush tropical gardens in Havanas Marianao neighborhood. The Tropicana had an impact in spreading Cuban culture internationally, new Yorks Tropicana was a Latin music club launched in 1945 by two Cuban restaurateurs, the brothers Manolo and Tony Alfaro, who made it the most glamorous nightclub in the Bronx. In 2004, the Atlantic City Tropicana opened The Quarter, which attempts to recreate the architecture, atmosphere and cuisine of Old Havana during the 1940s. In its September 1956 issue, Show magazine displayed a spread on Tropicana. The spectacular showplace that became The Tropicana evolved out of a Depression-era bohemian nightclub called Edén Concert, one day, two casino operators approached de Correa about opening a combination casino and cabaret on property on the outskirts of Havana rented from Guillermina Pérez Chaumont, known as Mina. The operators felt that the gardens of her Villa Mina. They cut a deal, and in December 1939, de Correa moved his company of singers, dancers, de Correa provided the food and entertainment, while Rafael Mascaro and Luis Bular operated the casino located in the chandeliered dining room of the estates mansion. Originally known as El Beau Site, de Correa decided to rename the club Tropicana, because of its atmosphere and na after the last syllable of the original owner. With a fanfare from the Alfredo Brito Orchestra, the Club Tropicana and its popularity with tourists grew steadily until the entry of the USA into World War II, which sharply curtailed tourism to Cuba. During this time, Martín Fox, a burly, gregarious and well-connected gambler, eventually, by 1950, he would amass enough profits to take over the lease of what would become The Tropicana. Martin Fox came to Havana from the countryside, nicknamed the Guajiro Fox, for being a country bumpkin peasant, he became big in the numbers rackets. Raised in the country and uneducated, he was bold and had close relations with more solvent groups. Hanging on through tough times, including a period with a ban on casino gambling, Fox bought out de Correas interest in 1951. This is when Tropicanas glory years really began, giant fruit trees were left in situ during construction to punctuate the interior. But it was the arrival in Havana in 1946 of Floridian mobster Santo Louie Santos Trafficante Jr. that would alter the future of The Tropicana. Trafficante, Jr. had been sent by his father, Tampa godfather Santo Trafficante, Sr. to oversee La Cosa Nostra and Tampa Family casino, upon Trafficante, Sr. s death in 1954, Santo, Jr. succeeded his father as boss of Tampa. Lansky would become the top figure in Cuba, appointing Trafficante his second in command
9.
University of Havana
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The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5,1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, originally a religious institution, today the University of Havana has 15 faculties at its Havana campus and distance learning centers throughout Cuba. It was first called Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de la Habana, during those times, universities needed a royal or papal authorization in order to be created and thus the names Real y Pontificia. The two men who gave that authorization to the university were Pope Innocent XIII and King Philip V of Spain, in 1842, the university changed its status to become a secular, royal and literary institution. Its name became Real y Literaria Universidad de La Habana and later, when Cuba was a free republic, the university had first been established in San Juan de Letrán before it was transferred on May 1,1902 to a hill in the Vedado area of Havana. The interiors of the building were decorated by Armando Menocal y Menocal, the seven frescos represent Medicine, Science, Art, Thought, Liberal Arts, Literature, and Law. At the main university there is a bronze statue of Alma Mater that was created in 1919 by artist Mario Korbel. The model for the face was lovely 16-year-old Feliciana Chana Villalón, the daughter of José Ramón Villalón y Sánchez. Chana later married Juan Manuel Menocal, who went on to become the Dean of the Business School, Juan Manuel Menocal was a professor at the law school when Fidel Castro was a student there in the 1940s. Maria Rosa Menocal, former Director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale, was the granddaughter of Chana, the main library Rubén Martínez Villena was established later in 1936. After the government was taken over by Fulgencio Batista in 1952, Batista closed the University in 1956. From January 1,1959, the date on which Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, until January 1,1962, in 2002, Rutgers University–Camden and the University of Havana signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize research and exchange opportunities for students and faculty. The MOU was re-signed in October 2016 with the addition of encompassing all of Rutgers, the University of Havana is made up of 16 faculties and 14 research centers in a variety of fields, including economics, sciences, social science and humanities. In total, up to 25 specialties are taught at the university, now, it has about 60,000 degree students in regular classes. The strongest of all these organisations was the FEU created by Julio Antonio Mella and it was a major participant in the overthrowing of Cuban President Gerardo Machado. The FEU initiated the general strike of 1933, resulting in the imprisonment of many of its members. Batista managed to escape, and many student assailants died in the action, during the months that followed, the police executed many of the students that led the failed coup. President Batista ordered the university to be closed, and it remained so until Batista fled the country, the Castro administration re-opened the university in 1959 and put an end to student demonstrations and political affiliations
10.
Castillo de la Real Fuerza
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The Castillo de la Real Fuerza is a star fort on the western side of the harbour in Havana, Cuba, set back from the entrance, and bordering the Plaza de Armas. Originally built to defend against attack by pirates, it suffered from a strategic position. The fort is considered to be the oldest stone fort in the Americas, a previous fort, the Fuerza Vieja, was badly damaged in 1555 during an attack on Havana by the French privateer Jacques de Sores and eventually was demolished in 1582. In 1558 Bartolomé Sánchez, an appointed by King Philip II of Spain, began work on the new fort. The Fuerza Vieja was set back from the harbour, but the new fort was planned to be closer to the harbour to give it a strategic position. The ironworks were established in 1558, but the first stones were not laid until 1562, construction was delayed due to complaints from local residents forced to relocate to make way for the building and from disagreements between Sánchez and the Governor of Havana. The fort was not completed until 1577, with slaves and French prisoners providing most of the labour, built of limestone quarried from the Havana shoreline, the fortification incorporated thick sloping walls, a moat and drawbridge. The governor, Francisco Carreño, ordered the addition an upper storey as barracks and a store, but on completion. Instead Juan de Tejeda adopted it as the residence of the Governor of Havana, subsequent governors made changes to the building. The façade of the fortress was demolished in 1851 to allow O’Reilly Street to go all the way to the docks, and prevent the fort from overshadowing El Templete and she spent many years scanning the horizon for signs of his returning ship. The fort was home to the National Archive from 1899 and the National Library from 1938 up until 1957, after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the fort housed the offices of the National Commission of Monuments and the Centre of Preservation, Restoration and Museology. The fort served briefly as the Museum of Arms, but the conditions within the fortress were not conducive to the preservation of the displays. In 1977, on the 400th anniversary of completion, the building was inaugurated as a museum and used to display exhibitions of Cuban contemporary, in 1990, it became the National Museum of Cuban Ceramics. In 2010, Castillo de la Real Fuerza reopened as Cuba’s premier maritime museum, the museum features a huge four-metre model of the Santisima Trinidad located on the main floor with a large interactive touch screen in Spanish, French, and English. The exhibit describes life aboard an 18th-century ship-of-the-line, the original ship was launched into Havana Bay on 2 March 1769 and was the largest ship in the world in the 18th century, with 140 cannons on four gun decks. She was one of four Cuban-built ships at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, downstairs you will find ancient navigational instruments, underwater archaeological artifacts, and gold and silver from the colonial era. Also note the original weathervane, La Giraldilla, while her replica moves in the breeze on the top of the fortress tower, which also commands a fantastic view of the city. The second level of the museum hosts many historic and contemporary models of ships with links to Cuba and is also a good location for viewing the harbour
Ciudad de La Habana
Cuba
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