Plaza de Armas is Havana's oldest square — laid out in 1519 as the military parade ground of the original Spanish settlement and still surrounded by the buildings that made Havana the capital of Spanish colonial Cuba for 400 years. The square is framed by the Castillo de la Real Fuerza (the oldest fortress in the Americas, completed in 1577), the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales (the former governor's palace, now the City Museum), and the El Templete (a small Neoclassical temple built in 1828 on the spot where Havana was allegedly founded).
The daily second-hand book market held around the square — with hundreds of stalls selling everything from 1950s Cuban comics to Soviet-era Che Guevara pamphlets and photo books of Havana's pre-revolution glamour — is the best place in the city to browse the printed history of Cuba. A ceiba tree beside El Templete is said to be the descendant of the original tree under which the city's first mass was celebrated in 1519.
Verified Facts
Plaza de Armas was laid out in 1519
Castillo de la Real Fuerza is the oldest surviving fortress in the Americas, completed in 1577
El Templete was built in 1828
The square hosts a daily second-hand book market
Get walking directions
Plaza de Armas, Habana Vieja, La Habana
