Urban Historic Center Of Cienfuegos: The Spanish Colonial Town

Cienfuegos is built with a rectangular pattern with wide streets, attractive buildings, numerous parks, and promenades.

The city's original center was laid out in a grid plan with absolute geometric regularity and composed of 25 blocks, motivated by the Spanish American Enlightenment. This planned town reflected cultural and new socio-economic trends related to modern urbanism.

The world heritage center covers 173 ac (70 ha). It has a 259 ac (105 ha) buffer zone that extends south along the port's eastern side. Cienfuegos serves as a trading center for the fertile lands of southern-central Cuba. It has evolved into one of the country's most thriving and modern cities. Cienfuegos drives a major part of Cuba's shrimp-trawling industry, and the port bears the majority of the nation's sugar exports. In complement to huge quantities of sugarcane, the hinterland makes substantial amounts of coffee, henequen, tobacco, fruit, rice, and livestock. The main industries in the city are coffee and tobacco processing plants, fish canneries, and distilleries. The historic city center was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005.

History Of This Area

Cienfuegos is a port city on the Caribbean coast in southern-central Cuba and is one of the country's main ports. It lies on a wide, level peninsula. The historic town of Cienfuegos is one of the best urban centers in Cuba. It's full of thin columns and residential houses with classic frontage that shows the environment resembling the French colonies of the 19th-century. The town was discovered in the Spanish territory by don Luis D'Clouet, a French emigrant, in 1819.

In 1494, Christopher Columbus visited the bay but made no permanent deal until 1738. In 1745, the de Jagua fortress Castle (Castillo) was completed at the doorway to protect the bay against pirates. French colonists founded the town on the Caribbean coast in 1819 as Fernandina de Jagua. In 1825, it was being destroyed by a storm, and later it was reconstructed and named in honor of its founders.

Cienfuegos is named the 'Pearl of the South of Cuba', as this small town managed to attract travelers from everywhere around the globe. The extravagant mix of cultivated French origin and amiable Caribbean style attracts travelers. Within the bay itself, there is a sign that conveys 'The city I like best,' which was the quote of Benny Moré, the famous singer. Cienfuegos is located on Cuba's largest natural bay and is open to the sea. The entire city relishes a desirable coastal environment, and serenity can be found in its refurbished public spaces devoid of throngs of tourists.

This world heritage site has become one of the country's most thriving and trendy cities. A significant part of Cuba's shrimp-trawling industry operates from Cienfuegos, and hence the port bears most of the country's sugar exports. Besides huge quantities of sugarcane, the frontier produces significant amounts of coffee, tobacco, rice, fruit, henequen, and livestock. The major industries within the city are tobacco and coffee-processing plants, fish canneries, and distilleries. The colonial town also encompasses a thermoelectric plant and a fertilizer factory. After the subside of U.S.S.R, the soviet denied support and the oil refinery was closed in 1991. In the early part of the 21st century, the refinery was refurbished with economic aid from the Venezuelan state, and it can filter millions of barrels of oil daily. Cienfuegos is served by domestic airlines, railways, and highways. 

Infrastructure Of Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos is a stunning port city snuggled between lush mountains and rich agricultural lands. This historic city has all the essential infrastructure to deliver various options and magnificence to design a welcoming destination. The sea is clean and the air is warm in this industrial city and its neighboring region.

Besides its cultural attractiveness, it offers a good range of services and urban planning. It fetures restaurants, a network of diversified stores, exquisite boutiques, varied options of transportation services, and other indispensable services to satisfy today's tourist demands in Latin America. The existent infrastructure may be subdivided into five subsystems; cultural, food, commercial, corporate, and hospitality services.

The urban planning design features an area of 5 ac (20 400 sq m) for walking and strolling within the center, including El Paseo del Prado, the cornerstone of the social and vehicular activity of the town and a commercial artery. The most significant pedestrian area of the city, the Cienfuegos Boulevard, includes the Parque José Martí and also features 4 ac (15 840 sq m) of squares. It also has 10.2 ac (41 616 sq m) of circulation zones, confining factors of a neoclassic design town, in a grid path and broad streets and sidewalks of French origin.

Cienfuegos is additionally famous for its typical restaurants, which concentrate on excellent dishes with seafood. The Jagua Harbour, a rough diamond, attracts people who love water sports. It's a 21745.3 ac (88 sq km) frame and a 1 mi (1.6 km) long nautical track included within the international boat racing championships. Cienfuegos is an exciting place to dive in Latin America. The Bahía de Cienfuegos boasts coral formations and rich underwater life.

Famous Buildings

Cienfuegos is a commercial port town. With about 150,000 residents, Cienfuegos is large enough to offer entertainment, art, and all kinds of other activities. At the same time, it's small enough to preserve the glamor of an amiable and historic bay-side city. It bagged Cienfuegos a place in Unesco's World Heritage site list.

One of the main attractions is the Paseo del Prado. The dense tree line makes a stroll down this avenue a pleasant experience. The street begins at the entrance to the city and ends at the Malecón, which is a coastal road. Cienfuegos boasts several palaces, the City Hall, the Ferrer Palace, Valle palace, churches, and theaters. For example, the Teatro Tomás Terry ('Terry Theater') on Avenida 270.

The Government Palace, known as City Hall, the Bishopric, San Lorenzo School, the former lyceum, the Ferrer Palace, The Botanical Garden of Cienfuegos, Arch of Triumph, José Martí Park, Reina Cemetery, Tomás Acea Cemetery, and some residential houses are buildings of particular interest.

At the entrance to Cienfuegos Bay, you can find the Fortress of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Jagua (Fort Jagua). Strategically found at the doorway to the Port of Cienfuegos, this palace was constructed in the 18th century (1745) to protect Cienfuegos from the raids of buccaneers and pirates.

FAQs

Q. Where is the urban historic center of Cienfuegos located?

A. This historical center is located in the city of Cienfuegos in Cuba.

Q. What is special about the urban historic center of Cienfuegos?

A. Cienfuegos is the foremost and excellent example of an architectural ensemble depicting the new ideas of hygiene, modernity, and order in urban planning as these developed in Latin America from the 19th century.

Q. How was the urban historic center of Cienfuegos formed?

A. In the Spanish territory in 1819, the colonial town of Cienfuegos was located, though it was initially colonized by settlers of French origin.

Q. What was traded in the urban historic center of Cienfuegos?

A. Coffee, sugar cane and tobacco were traded in the urban historic center of Cienfuegos.