Cultural Scenario in Matanzas, Cuba
Matanzas, a city that has 29 bridges, including the Bacunayagua, the highest one in Cuba, also has the largest number of streets with stairs. This is a city full of history, heritage and cultural values where the foreign visitor finds truly unique novelties.
Marked in its history by the arrival of the poetess Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and original or adopted cradle of great poets like Jose Jacinto Milanes, Gabriel of the Conception Valdés (Plácido), Bonifacio Byrne ("My Flag"), Agustín Acosta and the contemporary Carilda Oliver Labra (unique representative of her style); And of musicians like Miguel Faílde, author of the first danzón that was danced in Cuba and that soon became national dance; Aniceto Díaz (creator of the danzonete), José White (author of La Bella Cubana) or Dámaso Pérez Prado (creator of the mambo); Matanzas invites to enjoy also the troubadour movement, peñas of poetry and literary gatherings.
Read More... Matanzas also has the well-known City of First Nations or City Flag, Cárdenas, where past and modernity conjugate harmoniously. In the classic architectural style entrances of the city, the monuments to the bicycle and the car drawn by horses stand out like fundamental means of transport of the old neighbors.
The Ciénaga de Zapata, in addition to its 30 archaeological sites, houses a unique Tainan village, Guamá, carved entirely by the artist Rita Longa. Scenery of the film El Megano (1955), considered the main antecedent of the new Cuban cinema, today welcomes the Korimakao Set, which does an intense community work.
In Matanzas the first official ball game of Cuba was celebrated. It’s by its own right the cradle of baseball and has the oldest place dedicated to it, Palmar de Junco (National Monument). In the Government Palace the national flag was raised for the first time in Cuba on May 20, 1902. Within its outstanding cultural elements are the facts that this is the cradle of the national dance, the Danzón. The poet José Jacinto Milanés made the first verse that enshrines Cubanism in general and Matanceridad in particular. The city has given Cuba two national poets: Bonifacio Byrne and Agustín Acosta. The first museum created by the Revolution was the Junco Palace Provincial Museum and the Pharmaceutical Museum of Matanzas (La Botica Francesa) is unique in its kind in America. The first Cuban experience of Popular Power took place in Matanzas.
In the city of bridges and theatre, there is also the Sauto Theatre, linked to renowned artistic figures and located in the historic center of the city. With 150 years of existence it coexists with the Slave Route Museum, unique in Latin America, formerly known as Castillo de San Severino, built by slave labor and now treasures pieces, documents and objects that support the horrors of slavery. Other National Monuments are: El Morrillo Memorial Museum, Caimito de la Hanabana, La Dominica Building, José Antonio Echeverría's Casa Natal Museum and the Oscar María de Rojas Museum.