El Templete

In the year 1754 the Governor Don Francisco Cajigal de la Vega ordered the erection of a column of three sides, that showed on the top an imagen of the "Virgen del Pilar".  In the column two inscrptions were read, one in latin and other in spanish, both referred to the reasons of the construction of this monument and the events that were wanted to perpetuate in the posterity.

In 1827 the General Captain of the Island Don Francisco Dionisio Vives, ordered to restore the existing monument and build new works around it to protect it by giving it beauty, contributing to its conservation.

This idea was welcomed by the inhabitants of the city; with their contribution the work was finally inaugurated in march 19th of 1828, according to the plans made by Mr. Antonio Maria de la Torre y Cardénas. The builinf was built to conmemorate the fundation of the city, it reproduced in small dimentions the aspect of a greco-roman temple, marking the neoclassical style.

Bishop Don Juan José Díaz de Espada y Fernández de Landa solemnize the act of the inauguration and the french painter Juan Bautista Vermay portayed the audience in a linen that still remained in its interior, where also we can find a marble bust of this artist and a niche that jealously guards his ashes and those of his wife.

At the end of the 19th century it was restored and planted new ceibas inside it.

The templete, one of the most loved monuments by the Havanans, is conserved today as a museum and is the place where every year, each 16th of november is celebrated by its inhabitanys the fundation of the city, rendering honors to the majestic ceiba that reigns inside.