Capitol (Havana)

Brief Information

The Havana Capitol stands on a site that had once been marshland, a botanical garden, and the Villanueva Railway station. In 1929, the new parliament building opened here, and its scale immediately gave the place a different meaning: a former transport area became a state stage with a dome, a portico, and a ceremonial staircase.

After 1959, the Capitol ceased to be only a parliamentary building: scientific institutions were housed here, then the building became a congress center, and since 2016 sessions of the National Assembly have been held in it again. It is therefore interesting to read it not as a frozen monument, but as a structure where earlier representative architecture continues to acquire new functions.

What to Notice First

The main principle of the visit is to compare the building’s ceremonial external language with details whose meaning changed along with political history. The dome stands at the center not only for the sake of the silhouette: beneath it is an apse with the statue of the Republic. After the 2019 restoration, the dome’s gold covering was restored, and so was the statue’s gilding, so the top of the building and the figure inside are linked by a single theme of official brilliance.

At the main entrance, La Escalinata, it is worth noticing the 56 steps and the two 6.5-meter statues on either side: Labor and the Guardian of Virtue turn the ascent to the portico into a political gesture. The portico itself is supported by 12 granite Ionic columns in two rows; behind them are three bronze doors with historical reliefs. After 1933, all mentions of Gerardo Machado, the initiator of the construction, were destroyed on these reliefs. Thus the decorative surface also became a trace of the removal of a name from official memory.

Inside, the marker of kilometer zero beneath the dome is important: it was decorated with a 25-carat diamond, later replaced by a copy. This small point explains the scale of the building differently: the Capitol was conceived not only as a place for sessions, but also as a symbolic center of reference.