The Museo Casa Natal de José Martí (Birthplace Museum) is the house in which José Martí was born, a 19th century politician, intellectual and national hero of the Republic of Cuba. This humble two-floor house was converted into a museum in 1925 and declared a National Monument in 1949. It exhibits personal objects of José Martí, whose spirit is felt in every corner of the restored house. It was built at the beginning of the 19th century, rather close to the city walls, and has typical features of many houses in the area: a tiled roof and mortar walls.  The house was restored and its collection enriched in a community process in 1959. It is interesting to know that this museum contains the only known Oil Portrait of José Martí.

This square dates back to the first half of the 17th century. Its location, just a few metres from the bay, led to it becoming an important trading square over the years. It is said that around the year 1600 the first fountain of the city could be seen at this square. In 1836 it was replaced by a beautiful fountain made of white Carrara marble by Giuseppe Gaggini, under the good auspices of the Villanueva Count. This fountain is called Fuente de los Leones (Lions Fountain). On its paved area stand two noteworthy buildings: the Monastery and Basilica of San Francisco de Asís, which today houses the Museum of Religious Art and a concert hall. It is also where the Lonja del Comercio (Chamber of Commerce) is located, inspired by Spanish Renaissance architecture and topped by a dome on which a sculpture of the god Mercury stands. Among the houses built around the plaza, the house of the Arostegui family, residence of the Captain Generals until the completion of the City Hall at the end of the 18th century, was erected.

The San Francisco de Asís Church and Convent is the current scenario of the richest cultural traditions. This is one of the most extraordinary convent and church complex of the colonial time. The construction of the current set dates from 1738, and it replaced a more modest one completed in 1591. After a restoration in the nineties, the architectural group has harbored, also, a concert hall and the Holy, Sacred and Religious Art museums. The most significant element of the Church is the Tower 42 meters of height, second in altitude at the colonial time. 

The Museo del Ferrocarril (Train Museum) of Havana is located in the old Cristina Station, built in 1859. The museum exhibits a great collection of old locomotives, photographs, and signaling materials, as well as an interesting review of the Cuban trains history. Cuba was one of the first countries in the world to build a rail network, and the trains on the island began to run at least a decade before those in Spain. In this museum you’ll find steam engine locomotives for broad and narrow rails, as well as diesel and electric locomotives. One of the most important items in the museum is the La Junta de Fomento Locomotive, bought in the US in 1842. The museum also houses an area which reproduces the operations room of a train station in the first half of the 20th century; and a Railway Modelling Room which exhibits scale models of stations and railway equipments.