El Capitolio

The Capitol (Spanish Capitolio ) in Havana in Cuba was built in 1929 as the seat of the legislature and served that purpose until 1959. Nowadays it is a convention center and is otherwise available to the public open to visitors.

The Capitol of Havana in 1912, originally planned as a seat of government. In the reign of the fifth President of the Republic of Cuba and the dictator Gerardo Machado, the construction on 20 May 1929 inaugurated, however, obtained from Parliament until two years later. In the outer form is built in the style of classicism construction as the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC St. Peter's in Rome modeled.

The grounds on which the Capitol stands was originally a swamp and was only used in the Spanish colonial period for lodging of slaves and later as Botanical Gardens. The architect was Eugenio Raynieri Piedra, under whose direction the building was erected in just over three years. Its total cost was 17 million U.S. dollars at the original value. The allegorical woman statue inside embodies the Republic of Cuba. It was designed by the Italian sculptor Angelo Zanelli. As a model he used VALTY Lily, a woman from Havana. The rooms, which today serve as conference rooms that carry the names of places and personalities that played a significant role in the history of the liberation struggle against the Spanish colonial rule (1868-1898): Baire, Baraguá, Yara and Jimaguayú ) and José Martí and Simón Bolívar.

The mighty gates of bronze are decorated with reliefs showing the entire history of Cuba is represented by the conquest in 1492 by Christopher Columbus to the date of construction of the Capitol. After the fall of the hated dictator Gerardo Machado in 1933 by a popular movement all references to him were unrecognizable from the applied population made ​​. In the floor of the entrance hall a Decision taken by gold 24 - carat diamond can be seen, the "Star of Cuba". It marks the kilometer zero of the Cuban road network. Also, here is a 17 m high and 40 tons heavy, gilded bronze statue, " La Republica ".