Friday, June 17, 2011

El Museo de la Revolución - The Revolution Museum in Havana

On Sunday June 5th we had the opportunity to go to El Museo de la Revolucion (The Museum of the Revolution). The Museum of the Revolution is located in the Old Havana section of Havana. We had a special tour by the daughter of one of the workers at the Martin Luther King Center who is studying English in university. The museum is housed in what was the Presidential Palace. There are even holes in the wall from bullets that were used in an assignation attempt on Dictator Fulgencio Batista by a group of students during the 1950s. After the revolution the building became the Museum of the Revolution and now the museum's exhibits are largely devoted to the period of the revolutionary war of the 1950s and to the post-1959 history. Behind the building there is old military equipment ranging from an SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile of the type that shot down a U.S. Lockheed U-2 spy plane during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the engine of the U-2 airplane is displayed. There are also various vehicles and tanks used in the revolution displayed. Near the museum is located an SU-100, a Soviet tank destroyer. There is also a memorial to the Granma, the yacht that Fidel and other revolutionaries used on their voyage from Mexico to Cuba to start the revolution. It was very interesting to see the history of the Cuban revolution through the official Cuban government stance. There was also a reference to some past presidents of the United States. (From left to right: Ronald Regan, George Bush Senior, George Bush) All in all the Museum of the Revolution was a great way to learn more about one of the most important events in Cuban history and also a huge source of national pride for the country and its citizens.

Ben Main

Augsburg College '12





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