Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen


The city's oldest church is five blocks north of Parque Vidal. It was built in 1748, with a tower added in 1846. During the War of Independence it stood in as a jail for Cuban patriots. A modern cylindrical monument facing the church commemorates the spot where Santa Clara was founded in 1689 by a dozen or so refugee families from Remedios.


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Nearby attractions

2. Museo de Artes Decorativas

0.29 MILES

Something of a sleeping beauty on Parque Vidal, this 18th-century mansion turned museum is packed with period furniture from a whole gamut of styles that…

3. Teatro la Caridad

0.29 MILES

Many are deceived by the relatively austere neoclassical facade, but toss CUC$1 to whoever is manning the door and you'll serendipitously discover why the…

4. Melaíto Murals

0.3 MILES

Santa Clara is peppered with comic book–style murals, the work of a local graphic artists' collective called Melaíto, which produces a monthly supplement…

5. Museo Provincial Abel Santamaría

0.31 MILES

Not actually a memorial to Señor Santamaría (Fidel's right-hand man at Moncada), but rather a small provincial museum quartered in former military…

6. Palacio Provincial

0.34 MILES

The eastern side of Parque Vidal is guarded by the thick columns of the neoclassical Palacio Provincial (1902), today home to the Martí library (9am to…

7. Parque Vidal

0.35 MILES

A veritable alfresco theater named for Colonel Leoncio Vidal y Caro, who was killed here on March 23, 1896, Parque Vidal was encircled by twin sidewalks…