Cuba Guide
Cienfuegos and Villa Clara
Catedral de la Purísima Concepción
Address: Parque José Martí
Opening time: Mon– Fri 7am–3pm, Sat 7am– noon & 2–4pm, Sun 7am– noon; Mass daily 7.15am, Sun also 10am
The stained glass and various fetching altars of the Catedral de la Purísima Concepción merit a look inside. Built in 1833, it had the bell tower added thirteen years later, and in 1903 cathedral status was granted. It retains much of its original spirit as a local church and receives as many resident worshippers as it does tourists, not something that can be said of all Cuban cathedrals. The only sign of ostentation in the elegantly simple structure is at the main altar where a statue of the Virgin Mary, with snakes at her feet, shelters under an ornately decorated blue-and-gold half-dome.