Nuestra Señora del Carmen Church

Discalced Carmelites fathers settled in Cuba in late 1879. During seven years lived in the former convent of Saint Augustine with great discomfort. In 1887 they moved to San Felipe Neri Convent, in the Obrapia and Aguiar street. Over time the area became a major commercial and banking center, which is detrimental for the silence and solitude life. The diocesan bishop Monsignor Pedro Gonzalez Estrada offers a portion of the parochial field to erect canonically the Parish Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, for decree signed on December 1st of 1922, the ground was at the junction of Infanta and Neptuno streets

The architectural plan, of Spanish baroque style of the seventeenth century, in its colonial phase was put by the Rafescas and Covarrocas firm. The first stone was laid on March 19th of 1925. The works were directed by the architects Mata and Sanchez, who made changes to the original plan. The building is sober, with a wealth of capitals, shelves, high and low reliefs. It has two majestic towers, one of 35 meters, with glazed tiles and one that holds the bronze image of the Virgin. The altarpieces were brought from San Felipe Neri, all baroque, glazed in cream and decorated with gold burnishing, which were installed by the Novoa workshops. The stained-glass windows were made by the Franco-Spanish Maumejeam home and Brothers, in Madrid.

The image of bronze that finishes off the principal tower was done by the Italian sculptor Guino de Michel in the workshops Chizurazzi, in Italy. On April 11th of 1927, under Serafín Cruz's direction it was mounted and welded in the base. The frescos of the church were realized by the Madrid painter Antonio Martínez Andrés.

Source: Site of the Culture Office - Municipality of Havana Center