Cafetal La Isabelica, Santiago de Cuba

Visit the Cafetal La Isabelica to learn how an old coffee plantation worked in Santiago de Cuba

Cafetal La Isabelica, Santiago de Cuba
© M Silk

The Cafetal La Isabelica in La Gran Piedra, Santiago de Cuba, is the only representative museum of French coffee plantations in Cuba declared a National Monument and World Heritage Site by Unesco.

After the revolution in Haiti, multitudes of French settlers arrived on the Cuban shores seeking salvation. One of them is Víctor Constatan who decides to found a corn, cocoa and coffee plantation taking advantage of the fertility of the territory. The coffee farm built with stone, wood and clay, served as a home and production area and took 10 years to build. After so much effort in the war of independence, the liberating Army would burn it, thus ending Victor's work.

In 1961 it became a museum with 17 exhibition rooms and more than 598 pieces that tell the story of those French who had to emigrate from Haiti. Many of them were found in archaeological sites near the estate and others have been donated by descendants of French immigrants. The construction is divided into two floors, on the first floor you can find the tool room that includes agricultural and domestic material and used in punishments against slaves, the coffee warehouse, machine room, kitchen, pantry and coffee drying rooms. On the upper floor was the house of the lords and outside are the mill, lime kiln, bathroom, cistern and barrack for the household slaves. In this museum, thanks to its magnificent restoration, it is possible to know in depth how the production of a coffee plantation was then and all that it entails.

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Santiago de Cuba

What to see:

Museums:

Siboney

Parque Baconao (Baconao Park)

El Cobre

Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Cobre

Pico Turquino

Museo de la Plata (Silver Museum)

Other nearby destinations:

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