The monument known as “El Templete” was built in 1828 at the spot where the first mass and town council were supposedly held in Havana, in 1519. The creation of engineer Antonio María de la Torre Cárdenas, the monument is surrounded by a small garden and it is shaped as a singular Doric temple housing three large oil paintings by French painter Juan Bautista Vermay. “El Templete” rises at the back of the square and at the East side of the Plaza de Armas. It measures twelve yards long by eight and a half yards on both sides, as well as eleven yards high. The building is made of an architrave supported by six Doric columns with capitals and plinths, and four pilasters on the sides, with other decorations. The floor is in white marble.

Inside the fenced-in venue, there are also a marble bust of Cristopher Columbus, a ceiba tree and Cajigal’s column, so name by the Governor who ordered its construction after the disappearance of the ceiba that marked the supposed spot where the Villa of San Cristóbal de La Habana was founded.

Antonio María de la Torre Cárdenas. A Colonel in the Engineers Corps. He served in the Island’s political and military secretariat. He was a city-loving Havana denizen and contributed to its development with several works. He died in Havana on November 23, 1848.

Juan Bautista Vermay. A French painter born 0n October 15, 1786. He arrived in Havana in 1816. He founded Havana’s San Alejandro Painting and Drawing Academy, which he directed between 1818 and 1833. He died in Havana on March 30, 1933.