Paseo del Prado, “prado promenade”, symbol of Havana City
During your visit to Havana, you shouldn’t miss the chance to visit the Prado Promenade. Without it and without the bronze lions that remain observant on its corners, Havana would be like Paris without the Eiffel Tower or London without the Big Ben.
A walk highlighted by monuments
The Prado Promenade begins in Malecon, with the statue of the poet, Juan Clemente Zenea and goes up till the Fountain of the Indian Woman — also passing by the Capitol and the Central Park.
However, if you ask Cubans, the majority will say that it’s only up to Neptuno Street, where the hotels Telegraph and Central Park are erected. There, another monument awaits you, the bust of the Cuban patriot, Manuel de la Cruz.
For a modern city
By the end of the 18th century, it urged to give Havana the impact and beauty according to its condition of capital of the island. To make it possible, a program of public works was organized, including the construction of the two Promenades, the Alameda de Paula — of which we’ve already talked about in two previous articles — and the Prado Promenade. This latter inaugurated in 1772, during the government of Felipe de Fons de Viela, the Marquis de la Torre, who’s known as the first great urbanist of the city.
At the beginning, the Promenade of Isabel II as it was called at that time, was of soil and it had leafy trees at both sides. Its structure didn’t change during years and didn’t take long to become one of the most visited places by the people from Havana, leaving behind in terms of popularity the Alameda de Paula and the Plaza de Armas.
The big transformations lasted till 1902 with the birth of the Republic, date when its name resulted in Marti Promenade. that is the official one it has nowadays.
During the chairmanship of Alfredo Zayas that ruled the island from 1921 to 1925, pine trees were planted along the Promenade while under the chairmanship of Gerardo Machado who succeeded Zayas in the post, laurels were planted.
Besides, last century by the end of the 20’s, the emblematic lions made of bronze that seem to protect the park were placed on a large scale. They were melted with the bronze of the cannons that used to defend the city from corsairs and pirates in the past.
It was this phase the one that determined the final image of the promenade, because its central area was also asphalted and stone benches with a back part and a marble base were built. In addition to, cups, corbels, and street lamps were included and they are still there within reach of the lenses of your camera.
More than just a promenade
During the last decades of the 19th century and the first of the 20th, many rich families of the Havana aristocracy built their mansions on the Prado Promenade. As time went by, they moved to Vedado and to the other new western neighborhoods of the capital and plenty of the magnificent edifications they left behind became fancy commercial sites, like the hotels, the cafes, the travel agency offices, and others.
A true example is the Jose Miguel Gomez residency who was a Cuban president from 1909 to 1913. In this property, located on the corner of Prado and Trocadero is nowadays the venue of the French Alliance of Havana.
You’ll see other memorable buildings on your way along the Prado Promenade, some, already deteriorated due to the passing of time, others, included in a plan for restauration, and reconstruction like the Packard and Regis hotels, others still offering services, like the Asturian Society in the interception of Prado and Virtudes where you can stop to take a break and enjoy the delicious food or sit on a bar, of unique intimacy to taste a cocktail or a beer.
Also, a tribute to Cuba’s history
If you walk from Malecon, the first step towards Prado is set by you in front of the statue of Juan Clemente Zenea. The poet looks at the sea and the Morro in a thoughtful way and on its pedestal an inscription states:
“Don’t look while flying restless my dark and secret grave, swallow.”
Don’t you see it? In the statue of the poet there is no willow or a cypress. Zenea was shot on August 11th, 1871 and that is also shown in this pedestal which read on the other side:
“To the poet and martyr JC Zenea.”
Let’s remember that at this point of Prado and Malecon, we are just a few meters from the Monument to the Eight Medical Students, the Parque de los Enamorados (Lovers’park) and the fragment, still preserved of the jail where Jose Marti was in prison. A few steps up, along Prado, a metal plaque has embossed part of the first history of the Paseo, including a small sketch of it.
Two similar plaques are on the other side of Prado, in the interception with Neptuno, very close to the bust of the patriot Manuel de la Cruz of whom we talked about. In the colonial period, thanks to the flame of his writing, he kept alive in the heart of the Cubans, the respect for the revolution. There is more information in the plaque, but we invite you to read this fragment which is part of the history of our nation.
The promenade, also a cultural one
Throughout times, in the Prado Promenade, you could find the same a group band in the middle of a concert as a retreat of danzones (popular music), a visual art exhibition or a selling of books. An overwhelming cultural life distinguishes it and although its best moments are in the past, it still has the birth of the first chachacha, composed by Enrique Jorrin. Yes, that’s the one: “La Enganadora” (the Deceiving Woman), which goes like this:
To Prado and Neptuno was heading a girl that all men had to stare at.” (“A Prado y Neptuno iba una chiquita que todos los hombres la tenian que mirar.”)
“The Promenade of Marti” (the Paseo of Marti)
The New Prado, the indoor Alameda, the Paseo of Isabel II or the Paseo Marti are some of the names it has received. But, for Cubans, it is the Paseo del Prado, or simply The Prado. Give it a try, take a taxi in any spot of Havana, and tell the driver: Heading “el prado”. And without any questions, he’ll know what to do.
Originally published at havanaprivatesuite.com.
