Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos
Photo © Guillaume Thomassin
The Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos is the best extant example of the 19th-century early Spanish Enlightenment implementation in urban planning. Cienfuegos was designed in its definitive layout by French colonists in 1819. They laid the the urbanistic foundations of civil architecture that gives singularity to the city.

The downtown contains 6 buildings from 1819-50 and 327 buildings from 1851-1900. There is no other place in the Caribbean which contains such a remarkable cluster of Neoclassical structures.

Year Decision Comments
2005 Inscribed Reasons for inscription

Reviews

Cena (United States):
The Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos is amazing. The buildings are all being repaired and restored after the hurricane last year. One of my favorite places down there is the Tomas Terry cafe, which has musical groups performing almost nightly. Although, this place is geared more for tourists than some of the other places in Cienfuegos. On Thursday nights there is a Rumba performance for tourists to experience here as well. Also, there are day activities all the time throughout Cienfuegos. You can ask what is going on where and when at the House of Culture, which is also in this square.

You can definitely see the French influence in this square (Parque Jose Marti). I recommend that you take a walk down the streets leading out of this square and explore the city. While it is a positive thing that the facades of buildings are being restored, I think it is important to also focus on the restoration of the inside of buildings. There are so many houses a few streets over, on the Prado, that are historically important, architecturally, that need to be restored and preserved as well.

I was not a tourist in Cienfuegos, I was a student. Because of this, I was able to explore a lot of the city. I would recommend seeing more than just this square but this part of town is definitely worth seeing.
Date posted: March 2006


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