The Cementerio Colón, named after Christopher Colombus (Cristóbal Colón in Spanish) dates from 1876, when Spain still ruled, and is the resting place of many of the great and good of Cuban society from then through much of the 20th century. Much like Père Lachaise in Paris and Recoletos in Buenos Aires, this 57 hectares (140 acres) is an amazing open-air museum of some 500 beautiful paragons of sculpture and architecture, with highlights including a spectacular monument to heroic firemen who gave their lives fighting a massive 1890 conflagration; another commemorating sailors who perished in the 1898 explosion that sank the Maine warship and served as a pretext for the Cuban-American War which culminated in the island's independence; and the tomb of Amalia (above), a bittersweet focus of visits by women who are expecting or hope to be.

Read more in our post Havana´s Gracious Vedado District.

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