Spanish King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia Tour around Old Havana

The King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and his wife Letizia, who are making an official visit to Cuba to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the city of Havana, made a grand tour around the Historic Center of Old Havana on Tuesday morning, accompanied by City Historian Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler.

At the Plaza de Armas, the monarchs visited the Templete, a small temple of Greco-Roman style built in 1828, in the place where the original foundational ceiba once grew and under which the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana was founded, on November 16, 1519.

They then walked through the beautiful Plaza de Armas to the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, today the Museo de la Ciudad, where Eusebio Leal gave them pleasant and detailed historical information during the tour.

At the City Museum, Esteban Lazo, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, accompanied by Ricardo Díaz Zapata, president of the Provincial Government, and Luis Torres Iribar, secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana, welcomed the King and Queen of Spain and presented them with a replica of the Giraldilla, symbol of the city.

At the end of the tour through the halls of the City Museum, Dr. Eusebio Leal was decorated by King Philip VI with the Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III, which is bestowed on personalities with outstanding achievements in the enrichment and conservation of Hispanic culture and heritage.

Dr. Eusebio Leal received by King Felipe, a hand-woven banner depicting the Shield of Havana, for its conservation in the Museum of the City.