CubaPLUS Magazine

It is possible that the bells of the Cuban Cathedrals ring with joy -perhaps yes or not, since it is a pagan festival- and among them those of the unparalleled one in Havana, in honor of the International Day dedicated to these on October 19.

In the very heart of the Historic Center of the capital, declared a World Heritage Site, lies this Catholic temple that has also become, next to the Plaza that surrounds it, one of the most precious symbols of the great Antillean city. Under the invocation of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, it functions as the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Havana.

It did not inherit the location of the old Major Parish Church, in the place where the town of San Cristóbal de La Habana was founded, in 1519, a temple devoured by an explosion originating in the bay. A little further from that focus of danger, in the face of potential attacks by pirates or hurricanes, and in the so-called Plaza de la Ciénaga (swamp) -today Plaza de la Catedral- this beautiful temple arose from the second half of the 18th century on the site where the Jesuits were preparing to build a church, after founding a college, when they were expelled from the New World, by designs of the Crown.

It was made from the Oratory of the Jesuits and in 1772, due to the urgent need mentioned above, it began to function as a new Cathedral, while the existence of the old Parochial Church ceased. A transfer completed in 1777.

The following year, the Bishop of Havana ordered the transformation of the old San Ignacio Oratory into an institution that would honor his new ecclesiastical hierarchy. The image of the Lady of the Immaculate Conception, to which it was dedicated, blesses the parishioners from the High Altar.

Finally, that peculiar building was born, with its elegant and stylized façade, characteristic of the Cuban baroque, which fled from the excessive ornamentation of the European, some say because of its late arrival in these lands, and others because of the hardness of the Jaimanitas stone with which they were built its walls.

Also related to the Tuscan style of architecture, its two lateral bell towers, the temple formed by three naves and eight lateral chapels are still admired. Highlight its black and white marble floor. Many sculptures and pieces of goldwork were created directly in Rome by great masters.