Paseo del Prado
Interactive map of Paseo del Prado
General information
Type	Promenade
Location	Havana, Cuba
Coordinates	23°08′21″N82°21′33″W / 23.13917°N 82.35917°W /23.13917; -82.35917
Inaugurated	1925
Technical details
Material	Terrazo, coral stone, bronze
Floor count	1
Design and construction
Architect	Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier

Paseo del Prado is a street and promenade inHavana,Cuba, near the location of the old city wall, and the division betweenCentro Habana andOld Havana. Technically, the Paseo del Prado includes the entire length of Paseo Martí approximately from theMalecon to Calle Máximo Gómez,^[a] theFuente de la India fountain. The promenade has had several names; it was renamed Paseo de Martí in 1898 with the island's independence from Spain. Despite the historic references, the people of Havana simply call it "El Prado".

Construction of the first European-style boulevard in Havana, the first street of its type outside the city walls, was proposed by Don Felipe Fons de Viela y Ondeano in 1770, and work was completed in the mid-1830s during the term of Captain General (Spanish:Capitanía General de Cuba)Miguel Tacón y Rosique (1834–1838)^[b] who was also responsible for thePaseo de Tacón, thePlaza del Vapor and theTacón Theatre.

in 1925 French landscape architectJean-Claude Nicolas Forestier redesigned the Paseo del Prado, and lined it with trees, bronze sculptures of lions, coral stone walls and marble benches.^[2] The bronze lions were added in 1928. The Lions were commissioned by President Gerardo Machado. They were authored by French sculptor Jean Puiforcat and Cuban-born master caster Juan Comas Masique, who used the metal from decommissioned cannons to forge the lions.

Lining the boulevard are important buildings such as theGran Teatro de La Habana, hotels (including theHotel Sevilla), cinemas such as the Fausto[1], theaters, and mansions imitating styles fromMadrid,París andVienna. El Prado was the first paved street in Havana. WhenEl Capitolio was built in 1929 that section of the promenade was removed.^[2]

At the corner of Cárcel street the car dealershipPackard & Cunnigham was located, and in 1940 the radio networkRHC-Cadena Azul established its studios on the Prado.

Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier (9 January 1861 inAix-les-Bains – 26 October 1930 inParis) was a Frenchlandscape architect, who trained withAdolphe Alphand and became conservator of the promenades of Paris. Forestier was the landscape architect of El Prado and had moved to Havana from France for five years to collaborate with architects and landscape architects on various projects throughout the city including the design of the gardens for theCapitolio. He worked on the master plan of the city with the aim to create a harmonic balance between classical forms and the tropical landscape of Havana. He embraced and connected the city's road network while accentuating prominent landmarks through a series of parks, avenues, "paseos," and boulevards which 50 years later proved to be a direct contrast to theHavana Plan Piloto ofJosep Lluis Sert which was influenced byCIAM planning principles. The Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne (CIAM), was an organization founded in 1928 and disbanded in 1959, responsible for a series of events and congresses arranged across Europe by the most prominent architects of the time, with the objective of spreading the principles of theModern Movement focusing in all the main domains of architecture, landscape architecture, urbanism, industrial design, and many other design practices. Nicolas Forestier's influence has left his mark on Havana; many of his ideas were cut short by theGreat Depression of 1929.

The Paseo del Prado had been a replacement for the first promenade in the City ofLa Alameda de Paula which was built around 1776 by Antonio Fernández Trevejo. By the 1950s, families were moving from the Prado toMiramar and other parts of the city such as theVedado andSiboney. After the 1959 revolution and the ongoingU.S. embargo against Cuba, the Prado streets and many of its buildings were, like the majority of buildings in Havana, physically deteriorated to the point that many collapsed and remain to this day in a ruined state.

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  Panoramic image of the Prado. Havana, Cuba. ca 1925
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  circa 1918
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  circa 1920
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  circa 1930

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPaseo del Prado (Havana).

Wikisource has the text of the1911Encyclopædia Britannica article "Havana".

• Gardens in Cuba
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• Streets in Havana
• Buildings and structures in Havana
• History of Havana

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