The Memorial a José Martí consists of the statue of José Martí, the tower and the gardens around.

The monument stands on a marble platform that is about 7 meters above the square and 30 meters above the sea level. The visitors can access the platform through marble stairways at both sides that are rather narrow compared to the stairs in front of the monument facing the square. Parallel to these stairways there are also roads for the cars of the protocol at both sides.

The 18-meters (59 feet) high statue of José Martí stands on its raised pedestal on a platform. The sculpture is made up of 52 giant cubic blocks of white marble that were carved by Sicre himself in situ one at a time. José Martí is represented in a seated position, hunched forward and deep in thought. The sculpture is surrounded by six half-height marble columns. These marble columns with low relief engravings, depicting their respective shields, represent the six provinces of the time. It is also possible to take the stairs around the statue to reach a small platform behind the statue to watch the square.

Behind the statue of José Martí, there is the entrance of the memorial tower that houses the Museo José Martí on its ground floor and the enclosed observation deck at the top.

The pyramidal memorial tower is 109 meters (358 feet) high, its highest point being 139 meters above the sea level. It has a cross section of a five-pointed star, inspired by the star of the Cuban flag. It was designed by Raoul Otero de Galarraga and his architect group. The grey marble was brought from Isla de Pinos (an island in the Caribbean Sea, south west of Cuba). The enclosed observation deck on the top floor is the highest point in Havana and the tip of the tower can be seen from cardinal points of the capital. It gives fantastic views over the city in all directions. It can be accessed by an elevator on the ground floor. The observation deck is divided into segments that correspond to the five spines of the five-star shaped tower. However, you have to wait until another visitor will take the lift up to the deck, if you want to go down (or you can take the staircase with 567 steps).

The Museo José Martí is consisted of five halls: three permanent ones, one temporary exhibition hall and the auditorium (Sala de Actos) with 100 seats for ceremonies, conferences, book presentations and concerts.

At the entrance hall, the flag of Céspedes, the bust of José Martí that is the work of Gilma Madera Valiente, and the landscape from Cuba welcome the visitors. The walls are covered with the Venetian ceramic murals by the Cuban artist Enrique Caravia y Montenegro, covering an area of about 850 m2. The murals with prevailing bluish green color, contain 79 quotes of José Martí that are written in letters, bathed in 10-carat gold. This decoration was completed by the artist in 1957. The columns in the hall that support the building are laminated in gold color.

The first hall (Sala 1) highlights the period from the Martí’s childhood to his participation in the Monetary Conference in the US in 1981. The photos and the texts on the panels are sufficient to receive a short information about this period. Some of his works like Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) and Ismaelillo are exhibited in a showcase among with some documents like José Martí’s certificates as bachelor in Philosophy and Law, issued by the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and letters written by José Martí. The shackle, used to fetter him, when he was put in prison in Real Cárcel in 1870 (it is the collection of the Museo Casa Natal de José Martí) and the stuffed quetzal (a bird specific to Middle and South America), donated by the President of Guatamala Justo Rafine Barros to José Martí in 1877 are the outstanding pieces of the first hall. The first letter written by José Martí to his mother when he was nine years old, is another interesting piece of the collection.

The second hall (Sala 2) covers the period, in that José Martí was preparing the conditions of the fight for the independence of Cuba. Some documents, exhibited in this room, refer to this period, like the copies of the newspaper Patria (Homeland), the articles of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, scripted by José Martí in 1892 and the Manifesto de Montecristi. The note that José Martí wrote to General Maximo Gomez in 1895, is the last text that he had written. It was written hours before his fall in combat in Dos Rios. There is also a fragment of his unfinished letter to his friend Manuel Mercado that is important from the aspect of his political thoughts. The replica of the ceremonial sword of Simón Bolívar that was presented to Fidel Castro Ruz by Hugo Chávez Frías during his visit to Cuba in 2000, is the most attractive piece for the visitors. The Colt Frontier model revolver, on which his name was engraved, is the gift of Francisco “Panchite” Gomez Toro to José Martí during his stay in the Dominican Republic (collection of Fragua Martiana, Havana), and the Winchester 1873 model rifle was carried by José Martí during his expedition to La Playita in Cajobabo in 1985 (collection of the Museo Emilio Bacardí, Santiago de Cuba).

The third hall (Sala 3) is dedicated to the history of the construction of the memorial that was summarized by photos on the panels, a collection of coins and banknotes that were issued in commemoration of José Martí and different medals, created on behalf of him. The hall includes also some photos from the place where José Martí fell in the Battle of Dos Rios and the obelisk erected in his remembrance. On a large format photo, you can see the meeting when one million people filled the square to support the First Declaration of Havana on September 2, 1960.

The fourth room (Sala 4) is used for exhibitions of contemporary art.

The museum is one of the main tourist attractions of Havana. Once it served as the first headquarter of the Museo de la Revolución.