On a very old road in Old Havana, Calle de la Amargura No. 103, corner of San Ignacio, lies the cozy and beautiful Raquel Hotel, which will celebrate its first 20 years of life on June 5, with a high-quality service to which a singular offer is added: its artistic decoration, in which a magnificent Cuban stained glass window shines splendidly.
Small as a hostel, it only has 25 rooms, so for those who like intimate and warm atmospheres, this one looks ideal to have a great time. With great comfort and quality service in gastronomy, bar and rest, in an area full of history and legends, where San Cristóbal de La Habana was born a little over 500 years ago.
The famous squares of Francisco de Asís and the Plaza Vieja are just a few steps from this accommodation and getting there is one of the most charming walks. The current host was refurbished in 2003 from a three-story building built between 1905-1908, where the Sociedad Loriente y Hermanos, importers of fabrics, settled until 1912, who thus founded one of the trade businesses in that turn of events with the greatest weight in the country.
The building always attracted attention due to its beautiful architecture, appreciable from the outside. Its interiors were also majestic and attractive, due to their good taste, which spoke of the solvency achieved by their owners. The fabrics sold there were brought from factories located in England, the United States, France and Spain.
The prosperous company also had a large warehouse in the basement, and used a tram that made the transfer of its merchandise more affordable, an electric elevator, and an impressive marble staircase that led to its apartments and offices. Proving that the owners were some educated connoisseurs and lovers of finesse. It had a reading cabinet and a library. We could say that its luck began to decline from 1914, when the Society was dissolved and the building changed owners.
After important renovation and recovery works in the 70s, it passed to the regency of the CubaTabaco firm, among others. In short, it was a building dedicated to social and business activity that was very useful throughout its existence until it was decided to change its reason for being. After 13 years of a new and medullary restoration by Habaguanex, S.A., of the Historian's Office, it was turned into the current Hotel Raquel in 2003 as a reminder of the so-called fourth matriarch of the Jewish people, a tribute to universal culture.
The entire Raquel hotel exhibits the very Creole and universal work of prestigious Cuban artists: Víctor Manuel, Rosa María de la Terga, Ernesto García Peña, José Luis Fariñas, Natalia Marzoa and young plastic exponents such as Yaylín Pérez Zamora, Jorge Oliva and Alexis Lopez.
There are charming spaces with biblical names: the Lejaim lobby-bar, the Bezalel boutique-gallery and the Garden of Eden restaurant.
It has the peculiarity that each room is identified by a masculine, feminine name or from sacred places selected among the most symbolic and beautiful of that mythical land.
Today, with a meticulous finish and decoration, the "Raquel" stands out for its baroque façade and the Art Nouveau style of its interior decoration. The central atrium, crowned by a glass skylight, is truly magnificent. Pleasantly surprising are the majestic sculpture on the ground floor, the original marble floors and columns, as well as its main staircase.
The colorful stained glass window, like an inimitable song to our tropical nature, is exhibited at the top, the work of the talented Rosa de la Terga, it is considered the most outstanding located in an institution of its kind in the capital, built from a clearly Cuban project. It is worth admiring it, it is a feast for the senses.