Sancti Spíritus is a municipality and capital city of the province of Sancti Spíritus

Sancti Spíritus Province

Sancti Spíritus is one of the provinces of Cuba. Its capital is the identically named Sancti Spíritus. Another major city is Trinidad.The southern coast of the province is flat, but the western portion of Sancti Spíritus province is mountainous. The southeast has numerous mangroves and swamps...

 in central Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. Sancti Spíritus, Latin for "Holy Spirit," is one of the best preserved cities in the Caribbean from the time of the sugar trade.

History

The city was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar was a Spanish conquistador. He conquered and governed Cuba on behalf of Spain.-Early life:...

 in 1514. Francisco Iznaga, a rich Basque landowner in the western portion of Cuba during the first thirty years of the colonization of Cuba, was elected mayor of Bayamo

Bayamo

Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba, and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region.The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamon River...

 in 1540. Iznaga was the originator of a powerful lineage that finally settled in Sancti Spiritus and Trinidad where Torre Iznaga is. Iznaga's descendants fought for the Independence of Cuba and the Annexation to the US from 1820 to 1900.

The Parroquial Mayor is located two blocks south of the town's main square; it is a venerable green-towered church whose early 16th-century origins make it the country's oldest. Nearby is the Museo de Arte Colonial (Colonial Art Museum), one of Sancti Spíritus's most splendid colonial homes and a standout attraction. The opulent former palatial mansion of the Valle Iznaga clan, one of Cuba's most elite families who fled Cuba after Fidel's Revolution, it became the property of the state in 1961. Ninety percent of what you see inside, from furniture to paintings, is original. Though the family obviously kept an impressive collection of Limoges porcelain

Limoges porcelain

Limoges porcelain designates hard-paste porcelain produced by factories near the city of Limoges, France beginning in the late 18th century, but does not refer to a particular manufacturer.- History :...

, French gilded mirrors, Italian marble tables, and Baccarat crystal chandeliers here, it wasn't their primary residence; the house was used mostly to host family members in transit, so the furnishings were rather eclectic. The three bedrooms are decorated in grand style, though, with handmade lace, embroidered sheets, and hand-painted glass. There is a gorgeous and very Cuban leather sillón fumador (smoking chair) and, in the music room, the mid-18th-century American piano, one of only two of its type in Cuba. In the tearoom is the family seal, which says a lot about the arrogance of the rich and powerful: "El que más vale no vale tanto como Valle vale" ("He who has the greatest worth isn't worth as much as a Valle is worth" -- playing off the Spanish word for "worth" with the family surname).

Another interesting landmark is one of Cuba's older bridges over the Yayabo river. Built in 1815 with clay bricks it forms five arcs, the center being 9 meters tall. The entire bridge is only 85 meters long and was designed for pedestrians and carriages during colonial-era Cuba but has thus far resisted heavier modern traffic.

Sancti Spíritus has a worldwide famous Medical University located at the Main road in Olivos III. It has students from all over the world representing 34 nationalities. Recently 311 Pakistani

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

students were enrolled in the University. Now the major part of the students comprises over Pakistani

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

Medical Students.

It is also the home of the Sancti Spíritus Gallos

Sancti Spíritus Gallos

Sancti Spíritus is a baseball team in the Cuban National Series. Sancti Spíritus, nicknamed the Gallos won the series championship in 1978–79...

 baseball team.

Geography

The municipality is divided into the barrio

Barrio

Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...

s of Banao, Bellamota, Bijabo, Guasimal

Guasimal, Sancti Spíritus

Guasimal is a town and municipality in Sancti Spíritus Province, Cuba. The town has a population of 5,000 people. Che Guevara established his first guerrilla camp near the town.Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashed near Guasimal in November 2010....

, Guayos

Guayos

Guayos is a small town located in the municipality of Cabaiguán, province of Sancti Spíritus, Cuba.-History:The name of Guayos was given to the town by travelers that were inspired by trees of the same name which surrounded the town...

, Hospital, Jíbaro, Manacas, Mapos, Paredes, Paula, Pelayo, Pueblo Nuevo, San Andrés, Tuinicú, Tunas de Zaza and Zaza del Medio.

The Zaza Reservoir

Zaza Reservoir

Zaza Reservoir is the largest man-made reservoir in Cuba. It is located in the Sancti Spíritus Province in central Cuba, south-east of the city of Sancti Spíritus and north-west of La Sierpe. It has a water mirror area of...

is located southwest of the city.

The city has a central park which is a place of great entertainment for the persons of all ages.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Sancti Spíritus had a population of 133,843. With a total area of 1151 km² (444.4 sq mi), this means a population density of 116.3 /km2.

External links

• Information for tourists Historic City webpage