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Bayamo
Capital
City of Granma Province 
Capital City of Granma
Province Population 128.000 Lots of coches to ride people around
the city. Lots of monuments because of its historical background
of fighting for freedom of slaves around 1868.
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The
capital of Granma Province. The city has a rich tradition
of Cuban national pride and is often referred to as "the
Birthplace of Cuban Nationality" and "the Cradle
of Cuban Revolution." Additionally, Bayamo has always
been a center of philosophy and maintains a rich intellectual
and artistic tradition.
With
a population of 130,000 people, Bayamo has experienced considerable
growth since it was founded by the Spanish in 1513 as one
of the original seven Spanish cities in Cuba. Today, its major
commercial importance is in sugar refining. |
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Bayamo
was a valuable hub in the Spanish slave trade, especially
as sugarcane crops became the area's predominant economic
asset. As a result, there is a strong base of Afro-Cuban culture
in the area.
During
the 1800's, the emerging upper-middle class of sugarcane farm
owners began to be dissatisfied from their lack of representation
and influence in the Spanish colonial government. They resented
the governors' tactics of continually ensuring that most power,
and therefore economic benefit, remained in the hands of European-born
Spaniards. |
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Bayamo
was the stronghold of early revolutionary Carlos Manuel de Céspedes,
who freed his slaves and declared war against colonialist Spain.
During the ensuing battles, Bayamo exchanged hands several times
and was once burned to the ground by Cuban rebels as the city
was being sacked by the Spanish. |
To do in
Bayamo
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Casa
Natal de Céspedes
Calle
Francisco Maceo 57
Bayamo
Tel: 23/42-3864
Next
to the Hotel Royalton on the north side of the plaza, the
Casa Natal de Céspedes, the birthplace of the "father
of the Cuban nation," is the only house on the square
that escaped destruction from the fire. The significance of
it alone being saved is not lost on Cubans. Today it is a
museum, open Tuesday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, Saturday
from 9am to 2pm and 8 to 10pm, and Sunday from 10am to 1pm;
admission is $1. The house has been lovingly restored; the
two-story building holds a chronological exhibit about the
Céspedes family, elegant 19th-century colonial furnishings,
objects belonging to Céspedes (such as his ceremonial
saber), and a few odds and ends that help piece together the
story of Bayamo's independent streak (including the original
printing press that produced the first newspaper of free Cuba,
El Cubano Libre, in 1868). Céspedes is remembered for
refusing to trade his surrender for the life of his son, who
was captured by the Spanish army; the Cuban patriot replied
in writing that all Cubans were his sons and he could not
be expected to trade their independence for the life of one
man. The Spaniards promptly shot his son Oscar.
 Carlos
Manuel de Cespedes
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Antiguo
Ingenio Pilar de Jucaibama
Monument
Carretera a Mabay, km. 4
Bayamo
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Casa
de la Nacionalidad Cubana
Plaza del Himno #36
Bayamo
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La
Catedral de Bayamo (La Catedral del Santísimo
Salvador)
An
immense, ochre-colored, 16th-century church that succumbed
to the 1869 fire. Rebuilt several times over the course of
its life, the church was recently magnificently restored.
It features a high peaked wood-beam ceiling, and above the
altar, an attention-getting battle mural commemorating a pivotal
local episode when the parish priest blessed the rebel army
flag.
This
blurring of the lines between church and state was not the
only overtly political statement to take place in the cathedral;
the first singing of the revolutionary anthem was staged here
in 1869. The cathedral is open to visitors daily from 9am
to 1pm and 3 to 5pm. To one side of the cathedral, the small
chapel Capilla de La Dolorosa (Chapel of the Lady of Sorrows),
which dates to 1630, is distinguished by a lovely Moorish-style
carved wooden ceiling and fine baroque altarpiece.
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Conjunto
Arquitectónico de la Plaza del Himno
The
main square of Bayamo, also the Plaza del Himno which has
gotten its name after La Bayamesa, the National anthem of
Cuba
Cuba
Anthem |
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Iglesia
del Santísimo Salvador
José Joaquín Palma #130
Bayamo
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Iglesia
Parroquial Mayor de San Salvador
When
Nationalists of Bayamo decided to concur the Spaniards they
burned down this Parroquiral de Mayor San Salvador all arts
got lost. A beauty to visit with includes a chapel build in
1740. The Cathedral is a very unusual with tropical elements
and fruits decorated church from the 18th century. |
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Museo
Provincal
Calle
Maceo # 58
Bayamo
The
visit to this provincial museum turns out to be highly interesting.
It is located across from the park of Bayamo and near the
birth home of the Father of the Homeland, Carlos Manuel de
Céspedes, also a museum. The exhibition provides an
account of the historical burning of the city, when in 1869
its inhabitants preferred burning it down to giving it over
to the Spanish troops. Other documents of the museum are highly
important in the formation of the Cuban nationality.
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Museo
Nico Lopez
Near Abihail Gonzalez
Bayamo
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Parque
Céspedes
Parque Céspedes is the focal point of downtown
Bayamo. It's an exquisite, peaceful square flanked by tall royal
palm trees. The light blue and pink building at one end of the
square, which today houses a pharmacy, is where the great blaze
began. At one end of the plaza is a marble bust of the independence
fighter Perucho Figueredo that carries the words and music to
La Bayamesa (later the national anthem), which implores followers
not to fear "a glorious death" and encourages Cubans
that to "die for the homeland is to live." On the
other side is a stately granite and bronze statue of Carlos
Manuel de Céspedes. Ringing the square are handsome,
pastel-colored, arcaded colonial-style (post-1869) buildings.
Had the city not been consumed by fire, in all likelihood it
would resemble the remarkable colonial core of Trinidad.
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Handy
Addresses in Bayamo & Granma Province
Links
& Sources:
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