Cuba Guide
Northern Oriente
Catedral de San Isidoro
Address: On Libertad, on the Parque Julio Grave de Peralta
Opening time: Daily 8am– noon & 4–6pm
Price: Free
The Catedral de San Isidoro de Holguín, named for the city's patron saint, lords it over the stately Parque Julio Grave de Peralta. Surrounded by a walled patio, the stalwart but simple cathedral, with two turrets and a red-tiled roof, glows in the Caribbean sun. A slick of magnolia paint has added a certain debonair austerity to the cathedral's crumbling romanticism.
The original church on this site, completed in 1720, was one of the first buildings in Holguín; a humble affair built from palm trees, it lasted ten years until a sturdier structure with a tiled roof and stone floor was erected in 1730. When this started to deteriorate, in the late 1790s, the church elders exerted gentle pressure on the wealthier Holguíneros, and the current building was finished in 1815. The small Jesús de Nazareth chapel to the back of the building, now an office cum inner sanctum for church officials, was added in 1862, and the twin towers in 1910. Built as a parish church, and also used as the city crypt, it was only elevated to cathedral status in 1979, which accounts for its straightforward design and small size.
A spicy, warm smell of wood drifts through the simple interior, where balustrades over the windows, celestial blue altars and graceful high ceilings, lined with unadorned wooden rafters, add to the church's dignified air. On your way out, have a look at the heavy, wooden main door, pockmarked by bullets fired during the Wars of Independence.