Monument La India Fountain or the Noble Habana
The monument La India Fountain or The Noble Habana is among the symbols of the Cuban capital city, placed at the end of Paseo del Prado, very close to the National Capitol.
The monument La India Fountain or The Noble Habana made of white Carraras marble, by the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Gaggini, caused a stir around the city due to its magnificence. It’s construction and placement was possible thanks to the initiative of Claudio Martínez de Pinillos the Count of Villanueva.This monument was inaugurated on February 15, 1837. The three meters high monument shows an Indian woman on a rectangular pedestal with four dolphins located in each of its corners which supplies water to the shell that makes up its base.
The young woman wears a crown of feathers and on one of her shoulders she carries the quiver full of arrows, on the left hand she holds a cornucopia with Cuban typical fruits, a pineapple among them; and in her right hand she holds a shield with a key indicating the strategic position of La Habana and the three towers that represent the first fortresses of the capital city.
The statute is inspired by the legend about a beautiful aboriginal who welcomed the Spanish seafaring that made the bojeo to Cuba. According to some journalists from that time when the Spanish arrived to the current port of La Habana, an aboriginal was sitting on a rock watching them in silence. Then, carefully, she came closer to them and made a circular movement with her hands, referring to the spacious harbor, to the forest and said the word Habana.
The construction of Paseo del Prado dates from 1772 and was a proposal made by the Marquis de la Torre. It is located in the area of Habana Vieja and a block from Industria Street, which marks the limit with Centro Habana. The walkway extends from La India Fountain and the Fraternity Plaza to Malecon Avenue. In 1904 it was named Paseo Marti, at the Republic advent. Nevertheless people continue calling it "El Prado"¨.
According to its dimensions The Capitol of Habana is one of the largest constructions, not only in the Cuban capital city but also in the whole country. It was built under the supervision of the architect Eugenio Raynieri Piedra, as a request of the Cuban president at that time, Gerardo Machado. It was officially opened on May 20, 1929. The Capitol of Cuba was declared National Monument on November 2010.
Claudio Martínez de Pinillos, The Count of Villanueva, was a celebrity in the 19th century. He was of great influence in the social an economical flowering of the Island of Cuba. The Island owes the early existence of the railway, the construction of the aqueduct Fernando the VII around 1831, as well as other emblematic monuments in the city to The Count of Villanueva. The Hotel Conde de Villanueva was his old mansion in Habana.