So we went to see Art...
This holiday I've made it a point to visit some of the museums in my city that I didn't know about or hadn't fully explored. However, many of them are quite far from where I live and the problems of public transport in the city, coupled with the oppressive summer heat, have made me postpone the outing on several occasions.
Despite the inconvenience, I planned my outing to coincide with my eldest son's birthday, and we decided to do a tour of Old Havana and thus visit the National Museum of Fine Arts (crossed off the list ✅).
The museum is located in a large building near the Central Park, on San Rafael Street between Zulueta and Monserrate. Since 2001, this majestic old building, which has been restored, remodelled and acclimatised, has been open to the public to house the Universal Art collection.
I had already visited this museum a few years ago but I didn't remember much about it. Sometimes with the passage of time, older memories fade, and memories of places are lost, so this time I made sure to fix every detail, as well as taking lots and lots of photos!
Admission to the museum is free for children, adults had to pay for admission, but every time I visit a museum I am surprised at how cheap the entrance fee is. In Cuba museums are affordable and for everyone to enjoy, some are even free.
The museum is quite large and I didn't have time to see the whole of it, I didn't have time to see the top floor and there was one floor closed to the public. This place houses a lot of works and if I had been alone, I think I would have tried to see most of them. However, I was with my little girl and she got a bit bored. The paintings were not what caught her attention the most, and that is precisely what I am going to show you, the beauty of the place that left us all impressed, including my little girl, who entertained herself playing at being the princess of the palace.
The entire ground floor, the entrance and the sides of the museum are surrounded by tall columns with arches above, creating a beautiful visual effect. On entering through the large wrought-iron gate we find ourselves in front of an impressive imperial marble staircase with several levels.
As I climbed the first flight of stairs I stopped to look at a large opening in the ceiling in the shape of a circle with a lamp protruding from it. Then, when I reached the first floor I realised that the circle is actually a balcony from which you can see the whole of the living room below and the entrance door. But this is something I'm just going to show you later in another publication.
I was marvelling at the tall columns with their gilded capitals, the sculptures, the carvings, the engravings and the lamps on the stairs. However, I had not yet seen the best. As I approached and looked up, I was amazed. Above me I saw the most colourful and beautiful skylight I have ever seen. In writing this post and researching on the internet, I discovered that it is the largest in Cuba. It is full of bright colours and recreates a scene. In the foreground there is a large ship coming across the sea, along with smaller ones in the distance. No doubt this scene represents the discovery of our lands by Christopher Columbus.
For me this is the most beautiful thing about the place. It was here that my little girl felt like a princess looking out on the balcony and walking down the big stairs. We spent some time by these stairs and took lots of pictures. There is a wooden bench here, which we were all grateful for because we were a bit tired. I sat on it for a long time admiring all the details and decorations, the reliefs on the walls and columns, the ornaments on the ceilings and the high windows and balconies.
After a while we decided to go up to the first floor where there was a photographic exhibition that I loved, among other details of the place, but I will also leave this part of the museum for my next post, so as not to load this one with so many photos.
I would like to visit this museum again on another occasion to see what I missed and go through it in more detail, although this visit I'm sure I won't forget it.
I hope you liked the pictures I show you, and I recommend that, if you have the opportunity to visit this beautiful museum, don't hesitate.
To learn more about the history of the Museo de Arte Cubano over the years I leave you this link to the Wikipedia Site
