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Havana Cathedral
Havana Cathedral is a stone church in Havana, Cuba. It has two bell towers and stands on a wide old square.
Havana Cathedral stands on the Plaza de la Catedral in Old Havana, Cuba. Work on the building began in 1748, according to EcuRed, and UNESCO names it among the outstanding buildings around Old Havana's old plazas.
Havana Cathedral rises over the Plaza de la Catedral, one of the five large plazas of Old Havana, a World Heritage Site since 1982. EcuRed, the Cuban online encyclopedia, says its first stone was laid in 1748 for a Jesuit church; CubaPLUS Magazine says it began serving as the city's new cathedral in 1772. CubaPLUS calls its facade characteristic of Cuban Baroque.
Photo: Velvet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Havana Cathedral
Havana Cathedral is a stone church in Cuba.
It has two bell towers and a wide square in front.
Havana Cathedral stands in Old Havana, the old center of Cuba's capital. Old Havana is built around five large plazas, and the cathedral gives its name to one of them, the Plaza de la Catedral.
UNESCO names the cathedral among the outstanding buildings around these plazas. Old Havana and its forts have been a World Heritage Site since 1982.
UNESCO describes Old Havana, founded about 1519, as keeping its early street plan with five large plazas, each with its own architectural character: the Plaza de Armas, Plaza Vieja, Plaza de San Francisco, Plaza del Cristo and Plaza de la Catedral. Among the outstanding buildings around them it names the Iglesia Catedral de La Habana.
Old Havana and its fortification system were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982 under criteria (iv) and (v). UNESCO calls the old center a mix of Baroque and neoclassical monuments set among houses with arcades, balconies, wrought-iron gates and inner courtyards.
- Where
- Plaza de la Catedral, Old Havana, Cuba
- First stone
- 1748 (EcuRed)
- Style
- Cuban Baroque (CubaPLUS)
- World Heritage
- Old Havana, 1982
From a swamp to a cathedral
Long ago, the land here was wet and swampy.
People dried it out and made a square. Then they built the church.
EcuRed says the land under the square was waterlogged until the early 1600s, so it was first called the Plaza de la Ciénaga, which means swamp square. Slowly the ground was dried out and buildings went up.
The Jesuits, a Catholic religious order, won permission to build a church here, and EcuRed says the first stone was laid in 1748. CubaPLUS Magazine says the Jesuits were sent away before it was done, and the building later became Havana's cathedral.
According to EcuRed, the site was marshy ground until the early 17th century and was known as the Plaza de la Ciénaga; by 1625 new house plots there were banned so the plaza could grow. The Jesuits asked to build a church on the plaza; a royal decree of 19 December 1721 gave them permission, and on 5 April 1727 they were shown the exact site. EcuRed dates the first stone to 1748.
CubaPLUS Magazine says the Jesuits were expelled by the Spanish Crown before the church was finished. The building was made from their oratory, began serving as the new cathedral in 1772 in place of the old parish church, and that move was completed in 1777.
Stone, towers and naves
The church is made of hard stone.
Inside, thick pillars split it into long halls. The floor is black and white marble.
CubaPLUS Magazine says the walls were built of Jaimanitas stone, a hard stone. The facade is called Cuban Baroque: it has fewer carvings than many Baroque churches in Europe. Some say that is because the style reached Cuba late, and others say the hard stone was difficult to carve.
Inside, EcuRed says, thick pillars divide the church into three long halls, called naves, with eight side chapels.
CubaPLUS Magazine describes an elegant facade typical of Cuban Baroque, which avoided the heavy ornament of European Baroque; it reports two explanations, the style's late arrival in Cuba and the hardness of the Jaimanitas stone used for the walls. It also links the two side bell towers to the Tuscan style.
EcuRed gives the church a rectangular plan of 34 by 36 meters, divided inside by thick pillars into three naves and eight side chapels, with a floor of black and white marble tiles; CubaPLUS also names the three naves, the eight chapels and the marble floor.
The facade and its towers
The front has curvy stone shapes and a round window.
There is a bell tower on each side.
The front of the cathedral rises in carved stone between two bell towers. In this photo you can see columns, a round window high in the middle, a dark main doorway and two red side doors.
Bells hang in the openings of the right tower, and the left tower has a round clock.
The facade stands between two side bell towers, which CubaPLUS Magazine relates to the Tuscan style. In the photo, columns divide the front into sections with curved and carved stonework, a round window sits high in the center, and the main doorway is flanked by two red side doors.
Two bells are visible in the arched openings of the right-hand tower, and a round clock is set into the left-hand tower. Both towers end in small, pointed tops.
- Bell towers
- Two, one on each side
- Plan
- 34 by 36 meters (EcuRed)
- Inside
- Three naves, eight side chapels
- Floor
- Black and white marble
On the Plaza de la Catedral
This photo shows the cathedral on a sunny day.
People walk across the stone square in front.
This photo was taken in February 2015 by a photographer called Velvet. It shows the cathedral's stone front and two bell towers under a deep blue sky. Visitors walk across the paved plaza, and buildings with arcades and balconies stand on both sides. The square takes its name from the cathedral.
The photo (Velvet, February 2015) faces the facade across the Plaza de la Catedral. On the left, a building with a row of stone arches and an iron balcony frames the plaza; on the right stand pale buildings with balconies and another arcade. Visitors cross the paved square, which, as UNESCO notes for Old Havana's plazas, is ringed by buildings of outstanding architectural merit.
Amazing facts
-
The square in front was once a swamp!
The Plaza de la Catedral was first called the Plaza de la Ciénaga, the swamp square, because the ground was so wet.
EcuRed says the plaza was waterlogged ground until the early 17th century and was first known as the Plaza de la Ciénaga.
-
The church was built of hard stone!
The walls are made of Jaimanitas stone, and some say its hardness is one reason the facade has fewer carvings than European Baroque churches.
CubaPLUS Magazine reports two explanations for the restrained Cuban Baroque facade: the style's late arrival in Cuba, and the hardness of the Jaimanitas stone used for the walls.
-
The floor inside is black and white!
The cathedral's floor is made of black and white marble tiles.
EcuRed describes a floor of black and white marble tiles across the three naves and eight side chapels.
Words to know
- cathedral
- the main church of an area led by a bishop
- facade
- the front wall of a building
- Baroque
- a style of building and art with curves and rich decoration, popular from the 1600s to the 1700s
- nave
- a long hall inside a church, often one of several side by side
- plaza
- an open public square in a town
- arcade
- a row of arches held up by columns, often along a walkway
Discovery challenge
-
In which country is Havana Cathedral?
In which country does Havana Cathedral stand?
Havana Cathedral stands in the capital of which Caribbean country?
- Cuba
- Spain
- Mexico
Show the answer
Cuba
Cuba!
Cuba, in its capital, Havana.
Cuba: the cathedral is in Old Havana.
-
What was the square long ago?
What was the land under the Plaza de la Catedral like before it was dried out?
What kind of ground gave the Plaza de la Ciénaga its first name?
- A swamp
- A desert
- A forest
Show the answer
A swamp
A wet swamp!
It was swampy, waterlogged ground.
Ciénaga means swamp: the ground was waterlogged until the early 17th century.
-
How many bell towers does it have?
How many bell towers stand beside the cathedral's facade?
How many side bell towers frame the facade?
- Two
- One
- Five
Show the answer
Two
Two!
Two, one on each side.
Two side bell towers.
-
In which year was the first stone laid?
According to EcuRed, in which year was the first stone laid?
To which year does EcuRed date the first stone of the future cathedral?
- 1748
- 1948
- 1648
Show the answer
1748
1748!
1748.
1748.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe where Havana Cathedral stands in Old Havana.
- Name parts of a church facade: towers, doorway and round window.
- Explain how a building can change its use over time.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might builders choose a local stone even if it is hard to carve?
- How can a swampy place become a town square?
- Why do sources sometimes give different dates for old buildings?
Try at home or in class
- Draw the cathedral's front with a tower on each side, then add a round window and a doorway.
- Find the squares in your own town on a map and list the buildings around one of them.
Key vocabulary: cathedral, facade, Baroque, nave, plaza, arcade
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Old Havana and its Fortification System (World Heritage List) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Catedral (Habana Vieja) , EcuRed
- The Cathedral of Havana, the beauty of the "flattened" baroque , CubaPLUS Magazine
- File:La Havane cathedrale face.JPG , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.