Posted August 17, 2015 by The Average Joe's Cigar Media Cigarros Fumadores!

Hotel Nacional de Cuba “refined elegance and its ancient splendor”

Hotel Nacional de Cuba.

81 years of history give prestige to the classic for distinction Gran Caribe hotel chain. The Hotel Nacional de Cuba is considered a symbol of history, culture and Cuban identity . The guns that made up the old Santa Clara Battery are on exhibition at the garden, they were declared part of the World Heritage Site. The Hotel Nacional de Cuba was declared a National Monument and it was inscribed in the World Memory Register.

With its privileged location in the middle of Vedado, the center of Havana, it stands on a hill just a few meters from the sea, and offers a great view of the Havana Harbor; the seawall and the city.

The Hotel stands out due to its refined elegance and its ancient splendor, which since 1930 has attracted a large number of personalities from the arts, science and politcs, such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, artists Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Johnny Weismuller, Maria Félix, Jorge Negrete, and scientist Alexander Flemming

The History of the HOTEL NACIONAL DE CUBA – Among its first illustrious guests were artists, actors and writers such as Johny Weissmuller, Buster Keaton, Jose Mujica, Jorge Negrete, Agustin Lara, Tyrone Power, Romulo Gallegos, Errol Flyn, Marlon Brando and the famous Ernest Hemingway, who donated a blue fish specimen to the “Sirena” bar. The guestlist includes well known Italian American gangsters Santos Traficante, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello. The hotel’s reputation as a deluxe host is backed by patrons such as Winston Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, scientist Alexander Flemming, and innumerable Ibero American Heads of State and European monarchs.

The hotel is the regular venue for events – an average of 65 per year – that take place in the hotel’s reception rooms, the salas Vedado, Taganana, 1930 and Compay Segundo (which was the traditional venue for the concerts given by this member of the Buena Vista Social Club), and in the Apartment of the Republic (the salas Sala Santi Spíritus, Baracoa, Trinidad and Puerto Príncipe). Key events include the Latin American New-Film Festival, the Jazz Festival, the Havanos (cigar) Fair, Homage to Orchestras, concerts, the International Symposium on Tropical Fruit, the International Law Summer School (jurists), art auctions, the Congress of the Latin American Design Association, the International Congress on Satisfactory Longevity, events linked to the Havana International Trade Fair and to the Tourism Trade Fair, the Wine Fair, meetings of the businessmen of different countries and business forums, events staged by the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Computing & Communications (“MIC”), an International Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) Seminar, gala dinners, receptions and presentations of embassy credentials. It was also the venue for the South-South summit (2000), the 6th summit conference on desertification and drought (2003) and the 14th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (2006).

In the course of 2012 stayed at the Hotel other personalities as: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran; Bashar Al Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic; Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and intellectual; Salman Khan, Indian actor; Walter Martinez, director and producer Dossier Programme Venezolana de Television; Wade Boggs major league ballplayer noteamericano; Magglio Ordonez Delgado, Venezuelan major League baseball player; Annette Bening, american actress; Sergei Stepashin, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation; Charlet Rose, presenter major newspaper chain CBS; Adelmo Zucchero, prominent Italian musician; and other. An exhibition of photographs in the Vista al Golfo bar, also known as the Hall of Fame, provides a panorama of the illustrious guests who have stayed at or visited the hotel from 1930 to the present day.

Construction: 1930

Renovation: 1992

Class: 5 star

Location: Cuban capital city

Number of floors: 8

Number of elevator: 6 for guest (2 to pool) 2 service

Architecture: Art Deco with electric elements

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