Museo de la Revolucion

If you only have time for one museum while you’re visiting Cuba, the Museo de la Revolucion in Havana Vieja should be the one that you get to. The museum charts Cuban history from the times leading up to the revolution, right up to 1990. Located in the grandiose former presidential palace, the exhibits start on the third floor and you wind your way downstairs to the ground.

Different rooms feature different time periods, so you can learn and understand the tension and difficulties that grew the revolutionary movement in Cuba, Bautista’s coup, why the people were so discontented with Bautista’s government, atrocities that occurred the overthrow of Bautista, and all the steps taken between the success of the revolutionary army and the Cuban missile crisis up until 1990. You can gain an appreciation for the types of programs that the Castro regime implemented over time, including fascinating insights into the movement to get Cubans exercising, to improve Cuban culture, to industrialize the country and to become more productive with agriculture and the development of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. Nationalization of private business is also covered.

By far the largest number of exhibits are photographs and official documents from various time periods that are covered. There is also a good deal of clothing that was worn by the revolutionaries. Some of the more interesting items include radio equipment used during the struggle and interesting artefacts such as a kitchen chopping block that was used to conceal guns. A lot of firearms belonging to various revolutionaries are on display. On the upper floors one interesting exhibit is a lifesize waxworks model of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos decked out in uniform in the countryside.

As you wind your way through the exhibits, you get to a couple of rooms left as they would have been furnished during the times previous to Castro and you eventually end up on the ground and outside. Here there are vehicles that were used during the revolutionary struggle against Bautista and from the missile crisis period. The most interesting is the Granma Memorial, basically the yacht that transported Castro from Mexico to Cuba to start the revolution.

Location:
Refugio, between Agramonte (Zulueta) and Avenida de las Misiones
Havana, Cuba

Museum Types:
Historical museum

Getting There

Travel Tips:

Price Description: Cost is CUC5. You pay CUC2 extra for a camera and a further CUC2 for a guided tour.

Relative price: Budget

Open Hours from:10 a.m.

Open Hours to:5 p.m.

Travel Skills: None

By Paula Newton

I am V!VA's operations expert. With an MBA and a background in the Interactive Television industry in the U.K. I am the organizing force behind the...

Created: 25 May 2009

Updated: 25 May 2009