Havana, La Habana, Cuba
Along Calle de los Oficios passing Havana's only Muslin mosque recently opened 17 June 2015.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has proposed to Cuba the construction of a mosque on the Caribbean island during a visit to Havana, pushing ahead with a plan apparently inspired by his belief that Muslims discovered the Americas.
After talks with Cuban President Raul Castro, Erdogan said on Wednesday he had sought approval for Turkey to build the place of worship in Havana that would be based on the model of a mosque in the Ortakoy district on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul.
Last November, Erdogan told a conference of Muslim leaders from Latin America in Istanbul that Muslims had reached the Americas in the 12th century, before the European explorer Christopher Columbus did so in 1492.
"I presented all the information, project work and visuals regarding the Ortakoy mosque. 'We will do this ourselves. We don’t want a partner. If you find it appropriate we want to do this,’" Erdogan’s presidential website quoted him as saying of his talks with Castro.
Erdogan also told reporters the Cuban government had agreed with Saudi Arabia on a similar project some time ago. In light of this, his planned mosque could be built elsewhere in Cuba, he said. It was not clear what response Erdogan had received to the proposal from the authorities in secular Cuba, a Communist-ruled nation whose population of 11 million people is predominantly Catholic with only a few thousand Muslims.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2015/02/12/Turkey-s-Erdogan-proposes-Cuba-mosque.html
Opposite this was Casa de los Árabes ("The Arab House") towards Plaza de San Francisco de Asis.
This ethnographic museum dedicated to Islamic cultures founded in1983 displays modest exhibitions on Islamic textiles, carpets, clothing, weapons, ceramics and furniture. The museum is housed in two early 18th-century building of significant heritage value. It is also home to Havana’s only mosque: the small prayer hall is exquisitely inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
http://www.lahabana.com/guide/casa-de-los-arabes-2/
When this article was written, there are no mosques in Cuba. The closest thing there is to a public prayer room for Muslims is an exhibit of a prayer room at a state-run Arabic museum in old Havana.
Inside the Casa de los Arabes, which translates to “House of Arabs,” there are mannequins and dioramas of old school-looking Arabs in tents. It’s a slightly cartoonish representation of Arabic culture, like a set out of Aladdin. It opened in 1983 and doesn’t appear to have been updated since. Two peacocks roam freely, a bizarre sight considering the brilliant birds are neither indigenous to Cuba nor the Arab world.
http://animalnewyork.com/2015/in-cuba-a-museum-exhibit-is-the-closest-thing-muslims-have-to-a-mosque/
Finally another important building - Hotel Valencia.
The old house of Councilman Sotolongo, nowadays Valencia Hostal, was originally constructed for a dwelling-house by the end of the XVIII century.
The inn is located just a few meters away from the Plaza de Armas and Plaza San Francisco (Squares). It has a charming bar named Nostalgia, a bohemian place made to remember the atmosphere of the fifties in the last century.
It has the best place in the city where you can eat paellas. The restaurant La Paella specializes in international cuisine, has obtained six prizes in National and International Contests in Spain. A beautiful interior patio of exuberant vegetation, a splendid place to rest and to refresh with nice cocktails, gives a welcoming touch to this inn.
This inn is called La Casa de Valencia in Havana because it is a place to worship the Valencia Spanish Region tradition.
http://www.oldhavanaweb.com/hotels_hostels/hotel_hostal_valencia.html
Calle de los Oficios
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Havana, La Habana, Cuba
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