Everyone that visits Old Havana and wants to travel through history, should observe the giant mural on the Mercaderes street, named Mural Histórico Cultural del Liceo Artístico y Literario de La Habana, across the Casa del Marqués de Arcos, since it is a tribute to Cuban culture and a beautiful memory.

The mural covers an area of about 300 m2 and is made up of 52 panels. 67 outstanding figures from the Cuban history and arts, are portrayed standing outside and on the balconies of a classic colonial Cuban building, the Casa del Marqués de Arcos. In fact, the mural repeats the silhouette of the opposite building. All the figures are in life-size.

In 1844, on the initiative of Ramón Pintó, the Liceo Artístico y Literario de la Habana (Artistic and Literary Lyceum of Havana) was established in the Casa del Marqués de Arcos to promote fine arts and literature among the habaneros. Ramón Pintó was a journalist and politician that, despite being Spanish, sacrificed his life for the freedom of Cuba. During these years, the old mansion also housed the Escuela de Pintores Muralistas (the School of Mural Painters), that took part in the decoration of the walls of the lyceum.

In 1869 the lyceum was closed by the Spanish government, and Rafael María de Mendive, member of the board of the lyceum, was imprisoned and sent to exile in Spain for 4 years. Rafael María de Mendive had great impact on the education of José Martí. It is said that Martí received the fundamental concepts about freedom, decorum, dignity, prestige, justice, concern for the humble, purity of thought from Rafael María de Mendive. Other members of the board of the lyceum left the country or joined the Liberation Army.

Some of the figures on the mural don’t have a direct link to the lyceum, such as Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Bishop Espada, the Countess of Merlin, Brindis de Salas, José de la Luz y Caballero, Jean Baptiste Vermay, José Antonio Echeverría and Placido, among others, but their lives and work influenced the Cuban culture in the 19th century

Andrés Carrillo was the author of this collective work, in that many people participated, including the architect Jaime Rodrígues Cunill, sculptor Nicolás Ramos Guiardinú and a group of students and teachers from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas San Alejandro. Andrés Carrillo’s idea was not only to decorate the empty wall opposite the Casa del Marqués de Arcos, but he had in his sights to turn it to a mirror of the historical period, in that the colonial mansion was one of the centers of art and culture in Havana.

For a long time, Andrés Carrillo searched for any information about the people that attended the Liceo Artístico y Literario de la Habana and the Escuela de Pintores Muralistas in the Casa del Marqués de Arcos. He made a research through the newspapers and magazines, published in the island around 1844, and he studied on the dresses of that epoch, looking to the photos that he could find.

The artist used an unfamiliar material by crushing the natural stone to a specific grain size and soaking the stone chips in acrylic resin to provide great resistance and durability to the material outdoors. It was also a cheap solution, compared to the ceramic tiles. The mural was composed in tones of sepia. 13 shades were obtained by mixing the material in four basic colors, like brown, coral pink, black and light beige. All the figures were covered with thin layers of sand.

The work was completed at the end of 2000.