Cuba Guide
Santiago de Cuba
Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción
Address: Parque Céspedes
Opening time: Tues– Fri 8am– noon & 5–6.30pm, Sat 8am– noon & 4–5pm; Mass Tues– Fri at 6.30pm, plus Sat at 5pm and Sun at 9am & 6.30pm
On the south side of the square is the handsome Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. Painted white and primrose-yellow, it is ornate without being extravagant and has a pleasing symmetry that blends well with the other buildings on the square. The first cathedral in Cuba was built on this site in 1522, but repeated run-ins with earthquakes and pirates – in 1662 English privateer Christopher Mygns even snaffled the church bells after blowing the roof off – made their mark, and Santiagueros started work on a second cathedral on the site in 1670. They finished in 1675, only to see the building demolished by an earthquake just three years later. Reconstruction began again, and in 1680 another cathedral was up and running, this one holding out for over a hundred years, though debilitated by earthquakes in 1766 and 1800, before being finally damaged beyond repair by a tremor in 1803.
The present cathedral, completed in 1818, has fared better, having been built with a fortified roof and walls in order to withstand natural disasters. Raised above ground level, it's reached by flights of stairs on its east and west fronts, with the cavernous space below, once the cathedral crypt, now housing convertible-peso shops. The cathedral features a Baroque-style edifice, its twin towers gleaming in the sunshine and its doorway topped by an imposing herald angel, statues of Christopher Columbus and Bartolomé de las Casas, defender of the Indians, erected in the 1920s, and four Neoclassical columns.
The cathedral interior is no less ornate, with an arched Rococo ceiling rising above the first rows of pews into a celestial blue dome painted with a cloud of cherubs. The prize piece of the cathedral, though almost hidden on the left-hand side, is the tremendous organ, no longer used but still replete with tall gilded pipes. Lining the wall is a noteworthy frieze detailing the history of St James, the eponymous patron saint of Santiago.