Cuba Guide
Cienfuegos and Villa Clara
Museo de Artes Decorativas
Address: Parque Vidal 
42/20-5368
Opening time: Mon, Wed & Thurs 9am–6pm, Fri & Sat 1–10pm, Sun 6–10pm
Price: $2CUC plus $2CUC extra if you want to take photos
On the northwest side of Parque Vidal is the Museo de Artes Decorativas, featuring furniture and objets d'art spanning four centuries of style, from Renaissance to Art Deco. Each of the eleven rooms is opulently furnished, with most of the exhibits collected from houses around Santa Clara; some of them appear as they might have been when the building – older than most of its neighbours but of no particular architectural merit in itself – was home to a string of aristocratic families during the colonial period. In addition to the front room, with its marvellous crystal chandelier, there is a dining room with a fully laid table, a bedroom with an ostentatiously designed wardrobe and a room furnished almost entirely in wicker. Individual pieces to look out for include a stunning seventeenth-century bureau with ivory details and a fantastic Art Nouveau iron coat holder, with a mirror in its centre and full of artistic flourishes. A central courtyard is occasionally used for small concerts and fashion shows.