Remedios
Founded in 1513 by the Spaniard Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa after the steps of the Adelantado Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. Although it is known as the Eighth Villa. Some historians claim that it is actually the third oldest Spanish site in Cuba. Only preceded by Baracoa (1511) and Santiago de Cuba (1515). One of the first founding families was Francisco Manso de Contreras. When his son Andrés Antonio Manso de Contreras settled in it, in 1606 with the aim of defending it against pirates and filibusters.
Architectural importance of the city of Remedios, Cuba.
It is located about 5 km from the north coast of Cuba and 10 km by road from Caibarién. In 1980 its historic center was declared a “National Monument”. There you can find several examples of seventeenth-century Spanish architecture in good condition. Its main attraction is the San Juan Bautista Church, which has 13 beautiful altars plated in gold. These altars and other works of art remained camouflaged under layers of paint for several centuries. To prevent their looting by pirates. They were rediscovered gradually between 1944 and 1954. When Eutimio Falla Bonet, a remembered Cuban philanthropist, paid for the reconstruction of the church.
Transfer of the Villa to the city of Santa Clara, Cuba.
The central plaza Isabel II, or park attached to the main church, was restored in the 1970. The remedianos suffered attacks by pirates in the colonial period. After an attack by El Olonés, the opinions of the villagers regarding their location were divided. Some wanted to move the land inside, while others preferred to stay and confront the pirates. Of those who chose to leave, a group of 37 citizens left San Juan de los Remedios and in June of 1689. They arrived at the place where today the city of Santa Clara is located and fixed residence. Fernando Ortiz Fernández wrote his essay “History of a Cuban Fight against the Demons”. Published in 1959 by the Central University of Las Villas. The filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea made his film A Cuban Fight against the Demons.