The historic center of Havana, better
known as Old Havana (Habana Vieja), occupies an area of around
2.2 km2. It is composed of two different areas from the urban
point of view: the old city inside of the walls, and its
fringe that was added to the old city by the demolition of the
walls between the mid of the 19th century and the first decades
of the 20th century. The Old City with all of its historical
buildings was declared a National Monument in 1982 and included
in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
This 1:1500
scale model of the Old City facilitates to understand the urban
development of Havana, as well as to enjoy by locating the most
representative buildings of the historic center of the city. It
was inaugurated by the Queen of Spain Sofía in 1999, on occasion
of the 480th anniversary of the founding of the town Havana. It
was created by Orlando Martorell that worked with his wife Clara
on the project for 3 years uninterruptedly. His daughter Maria,
Carlos San Román and Víctor Orbín also contributed to the work.
It measures 8 meters long and 6 meters wide, covering 48 m2.
The incredibly detailed model was
mounted in a large room on the ground floor of a building that
was used as the store by the Pharmacy Taquechel. Initially only
the Old Havana was thought to be featured on the model, but
later it was extended to include the districts of Regla and
Casablanca, so that the sack shape of the Bay of Havana could be
clearly observed. The model was made up of around 3500 miniature
buildings. It has a lighting system to simulate the night and
the day in Havana, as well as the sunrise and the sunset. The
system is integrated with the sounds of the birds, the waves of
the sea, the bells of the churches, the car horns, and the
cannon shot, routinely done at the
Fortelaza de San Carlos de la Cabaña at 21:00 every day. It
is very amusing to discover many details at the model, such as
the cobbled streets, the stained-glass windows, the nests of the
storks at the top of the towers. The guides are ready to give
information on request.
The Maqueta de la Habana Vieja is located on the Mercaderes street #114, between the Obispo and the Obrapia streets, opposite to the Casa de Asia.
