Gonzalo de Quesada Park: from the splendor past to the current decline

In it Vedado Habaneroa few blocks from the iconic Malecon and also on Line Street, is the Gonzalo de Quesada Park.

What was in the beginning was a beautiful recreation site in the then aristocratic neighborhood, today suffers a progressive deterioration catalyzed by the crisis that also affects its environment.

Semi -circular pergola in Gonzalo de Quesada Park, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Two long stretches of straight pergolas in Gonzalo de Quesada Park in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

The park – educate in 1915 and nestled in the apple that limit the streets C, D, 5 and 7 – honors with its name and with a monument to the illustrious patriot Gonzalo de Quesada and Aróstegui, collaborator and literary executor of José Martí.

But at the same time, it is also known as Villalón Park, surname of the Secretary of Public Works at the time, by whose initiative the constructive works were carried out there.

Monument to Gonzalo de Quesada in the park of the same name, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Tarja in the monument to Gonzalo de Quesada in the park of the same name, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

The Gonzalo de Quesada Park covers an area of about 10 thousand square meters. It is not a simple open space, but since its inauguration, more than a century ago, it was dressed in pergolas, lamps, banks and marble lozas, and also with trees and other green areas.

These elements have remained there, although they have suffered the rigors of neglect and time.

Remains of what was a lamppost in the Gonzalo de Quesada Park, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Bank "pirate" (in the foreground) in the Gonzalo de Quesada Park, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez. — “Pirateado” Bank (in the foreground) in the Gonzalo de Quesada Park, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

One of the distinctive aspects of the park was the location in it of the sculpture of the Neptune God, which previously pilgated by several places in Havana after arriving from Italy in the time of the colony by order of Captain General Miguel Tacón.

The sculpture remained in that place until, after restoration work at the end of the 20th century, it was returned to the immediate vicinity of Havana Bay, and instead a figure of the goddess Venus was placed instead.

Signs of abandonment at the source with statue of Venus, in Havana Park Gonzalo de Quesada. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Sculpture of the goddess Venus where formerly of the god Neptune was, in Havana Park Gonzalo de Quesada. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez.

Although it has had several restorations, time, abuse and crisis have made a dent in Gonzalo de Quesada Park, as in so many other sites and constructions of Cuba.

Quartered columns, fallowal lampposts, “pirate” banks, graffiti and damage to various structures, signs of dirt and abandonment, are part of their daily landscape. In a corner, the ruins of the Amadeo Roldán theater also contrast with the luxurious hotels that are built in the vicinity.

This is revealed to us today this Havana Park through the photos of Otmaro Rodríguez, testimony of its current decline, even when it remains a transit site of neighbors and walkers.