A piece of Africa in Havana

In the showrooms of the Africa House Museum the remains of a history of courage, faith, courage and traditions remain.

There are original objects and images that reflect the cruelty of the slavery process in Cuba and the strength of our African ancestors in facing it.

Legendary collections at the House of Africa

One of the rooms exhibits a replica of a vertical trapiche, a cart used for the transportation of the caña of sugar to the trapiches.

You can also see cauldrons from old sugar mills, a stone from an old grain mill, a stocks as an instrument of punishment, a whip and shackles used to keep slaves in extreme obedience, pylons and mass to thresh grain, mill bells and as support. , images that reflect all that stage.

Home of Don Fernando Ortiz

Another of the collection rooms of the Africa House Museum, contains books and personal belongings of Fernando Ortiz that denote the validity of his investigations.

Ortiz, called by many the third discoverer of Cuba, is the most representative figure of Cuban culture in the first half of the XNUMXth century, an anthropologist and researcher of the identity roots of this Island.

The room also contains samples of Afro-Cuban religious practices, Regla de Ocha or Santeria, Palo Monte and Abakuá or Ñañiguismo.

House of Africa, art and culture of the continent

Also many artistic and cultural manifestations of the African continent are present in the rooms of the Africa House.

Visitors are shown handicrafts, paintings, sculptures and other varieties from different African nations, some of which correspond to their main economic activities and are made with vegetable fiber, wood, clay, ivory, or stones.

Thus we can see masks that represent deities, natural forces, and the mixture of human and animal.

Colorful textiles and costumes designed for life in the jungle are also appreciated, as well as a great variety of African musical instruments from different areas.

A museum for the community

Our Africa House, a museum that offers the public extensive collections that promote learning about various themes of Afro-Cuban culture.

It is located at Calle Obrapía # 157 between Mercaderes and San Ignacio, Historic Center of Old Havana.

There, visitors are given the option of taking a guided tour through which they can be part of a didactic show and also observe the collections that try to expand the knowledge about the African roots present in the true Cuban identity.

It is a place for knowledge and the unfolding of imagination.

An House for the benefit of the public

La Africa House in HavanaIt also aims to expand research on African culture and traditions and their influence in Cuba.

They have the work and support of prestigious researchers and scholars on the subject, who teach courses and workshops at the institution itself on issues as varied as culture, yoruba religion, the Orishas, ​​the arts, language and African legends.

Also in the Africa House Every year the Scientific Workshop on Afro-American Social and Cultural Anthropology "Among Cubans" is held to commemorate the anniversary of the institution and to continue promoting Afro-Cuban culture.

The Workshop also pays tribute to Don Fernando Ortiz, also known as one of the discoverers of Cuba for his anthropological work on culture and religion.

Library and knowledge about Africa

The museum is also a receptacle for information on all kinds of topics associated with the continent.

And they offer the public a complete library that contains research by the most important authors and specialists, for studies of an ethnological and cultural anthropological nature.

La Africa House it is also a space for exchange for all community groups.

There, the elderly have a place to develop therapeutic activities, and the girls and boys learn about the myths and legends of the African continent in their classrooms-museums through drawing, dance and other cultural elements classes.

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