This is one of the most beautiful and best cared for sites in the city of Cienfuegos, apart from being a symbol of the urban center’s identity. The park is as old as the city itself, for it is said that in it stood the majagua tree that served as the starting point for the urban layout of the town or ‘villa’ back when it was founded by French settlers in the second decade of the XIX century.
Over time its name changed from the original Arms Square to recreational plaza and then to the current: José Martí Park, in honor of the national hero of Cuba. One of its most significant sculptural details is precisely the monument to José Martí embellishing the park since 1902, the second to be raised in honor of the hero in the island, preceded only by the one erected in Havana’s Central Park.
It is surrounded by important edifices, almost all pertaining to the city’s cultural and administrative sphere, providing an exquisite architectural neoclassical touch to the park’s setting. It was declared National Monument on 20th of November 1982.