Localization
The Guáimaro hacienda is in the Palmajero district,
about 9 km on the east of the famous Manaca-Iznaga tower,
bordered by the road to Sancti Spiritus on the north.
Opening Hours
every day 09:00 - 17:00
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Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán
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José Martí
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Francisco Sánchez Hechavarría
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gorro frigio
INGENIO GUÁIMARO
Another notable site in the Valle de los Ingenios is Sitio Histórico Guaímaro which is home to an estate-house-turned-museum currently (Museo del Azúcar). It covers an area of about 113.000 m2.
History
It is estimated that this hacienda was established towards the end of the 18th century, as the first news about this hacienda dates back to 1788. The soil was so fertile that in 1827, the highest sugar production in the world was achieved: about 930 tons (82,000 arrobas) of raw and purged sugar. With this profit, the owner of the hacienda, Jose Mariano Borrell Padrón, had the mansion built in the Plaza Mayor in Trinidad, known today as the Palacio Cantero.
The dwelling house that was made of mud and guano, was built on the slope of the hill. When José Mariano Borrell Padrón died in 1830, about 300 male slaves were working in this hacienda that valued at 459.527 pesos.
Both the surveyors Francisco Lavallee and Francisco Laplante illustrated the Guáimaro sugar mill in their work in which the slave huts can be perfectly observed. They were located in an orderly manner at the foot of the hill, "located on high and dry ground, neat and comfortable". These slave barracks, numbering 32, were made of masonry and tiles.
When José Mariano Borrell y Lemus, the son of José Mariano Borrell Padrón, inherited the hacienda, he became the most powerful landowner in the town. In 1861, 424 male slaves and 83 female slaves (Congolese, Moroccan and Creole) were working in the hacienda. He received 19,000 ounces of gold from his father, the equivalent of 532 kilograms, making him one of the richest men of his time. His wealth was unmatched, including part of the shares of the Trinidad railway. This person, who became famous for the tortures and prohibitions he inflicted on slaves, who was the owner of an enormous fortune of gold that he buried and whose whereabouts no one knows, who at the age of 40 married María Concepción Villafaña y Galeto, a 15-year-old girl in love with the marquis's fortune, was all alone in his mansion when he died of gangrene. His wife and and his own children paid a slave 300 ounces of gold to kill him. It should not be forgotten that José Mariano Borrell y Lemus was one of those who voted for the death by firing squad of the Cuban patriot José Isidoro de Armenteros and his companions Rafael Arcís and Fernando Hernández y Echerri in 1851. Thus, no wonder that many stories have been made about the “haunted house”.
José Mariano Borrell y Lemus gave the definitive form to the dwelling between 1840s and 1859. He hired the Italian well-known architect, decorator and painter Daniel Dall Aglio, the creator of Sauto Theater and the Church of San Pedro Apóstol in Matanzas, for the interior decoration of the dwelling house. When the architect completed the work in 1859, the dwelling house became one of the most beautiful houses in the country with the mural paintings from floor to the ceiling.
Another notable site in the Valle de los Ingenios is Sitio Histórico Guaímaro which is home to an estate-house-turned-museum currently (Museo del Azúcar). It covers an area of about 113.000 m2.
History
It is estimated that this hacienda was established towards the end of the 18th century, as the first news about this hacienda dates back to 1788. The soil was so fertile that in 1827, the highest sugar production in the world was achieved: about 930 tons (82,000 arrobas) of raw and purged sugar. With this profit, the owner of the hacienda, Jose Mariano Borrell Padrón, had the mansion built in the Plaza Mayor in Trinidad, known today as the Palacio Cantero.
The dwelling house that was made of mud and guano, was built on the slope of the hill. When José Mariano Borrell Padrón died in 1830, about 300 male slaves were working in this hacienda that valued at 459.527 pesos.
Both the surveyors Francisco Lavallee and Francisco Laplante illustrated the Guáimaro sugar mill in their work in which the slave huts can be perfectly observed. They were located in an orderly manner at the foot of the hill, "located on high and dry ground, neat and comfortable". These slave barracks, numbering 32, were made of masonry and tiles.
When José Mariano Borrell y Lemus, the son of José Mariano Borrell Padrón, inherited the hacienda, he became the most powerful landowner in the town. In 1861, 424 male slaves and 83 female slaves (Congolese, Moroccan and Creole) were working in the hacienda. He received 19,000 ounces of gold from his father, the equivalent of 532 kilograms, making him one of the richest men of his time. His wealth was unmatched, including part of the shares of the Trinidad railway. This person, who became famous for the tortures and prohibitions he inflicted on slaves, who was the owner of an enormous fortune of gold that he buried and whose whereabouts no one knows, who at the age of 40 married María Concepción Villafaña y Galeto, a 15-year-old girl in love with the marquis's fortune, was all alone in his mansion when he died of gangrene. His wife and and his own children paid a slave 300 ounces of gold to kill him. It should not be forgotten that José Mariano Borrell y Lemus was one of those who voted for the death by firing squad of the Cuban patriot José Isidoro de Armenteros and his companions Rafael Arcís and Fernando Hernández y Echerri in 1851. Thus, no wonder that many stories have been made about the “haunted house”.
José Mariano Borrell y Lemus gave the definitive form to the dwelling between 1840s and 1859. He hired the Italian well-known architect, decorator and painter Daniel Dall Aglio, the creator of Sauto Theater and the Church of San Pedro Apóstol in Matanzas, for the interior decoration of the dwelling house. When the architect completed the work in 1859, the dwelling house became one of the most beautiful houses in the country with the mural paintings from floor to the ceiling.