The birthplace of José Marti in Havana

Opposite the station in Havana is the birthplace of José Julián Martí y Pérez (28-1-1853 - 19-5-1895)

José Marti was the leader of the Cuban independence movement and also an esteemed poet and writer

Today he`s seen as Cuba's most important national hero

Cuba was in 1853 still a colony of Spain

He had Spanish parents, Mariano Martí and Leonor Pérez Cabrera, and was the eldest brother of seven sisters

When José was four years old his family moved from Cuba to Valencia in Spain, but two years later they returned back to the Caribbean island

Besides a great writer, poet and journalist José was also a painter

In 1867 he attended drawing and painting classes at

the Art Academy in Havana

In 1869 José published, 16 years old, his first political article in the first edition of the illegal newspaper "El Diablo Cojuelo"

It`s clear that José Martí at a young age already had a great dislike against the Spanish colonial rule in Cuba and the then common practice of slavery

Partly because in Oriente (For 1905 this province was called Santiago de Cuba) an independence rebellion had broken out, the colonial authorities weren`t served of criticism

In March 1869 José Martí was arrested on charges of treason and imprisoned

Four months later during the trial Martí accepted responsibility for these claims and in his closing argument he claimed Cuba's "Right to Independence"

He was sentenced to six years in prison

On April 11, 1895 Marti led a landing of Cuban exiles and he joined the troops of the rebel General Maximo Gomez

Martí was killed in the battle with the Spanish troops in

Dos Ríos on May 19, 1895

Because of Martí 's intellectual merit is now a bust of him

at every school in Cuba

The train station can be seen from the birthplace of José Marti

Beautiful view of Havana from the "José Martí Memorial" on the Square of the Revolution

The José Martí Memorial is a memorial to José Martí, the national hero of Cuba, located on the northern side of the Plaza de la Revolucion in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana

It consists a star-shaped tower and a statue of José Martí

surrounded by six columns

The 109 m high tower, designed by a team of architects led by Enrique Luis Varela, is in the form of a five-pointed star, encased in gray Cuban marble from the island of Isla de la Juventud

Construction of the tower began in 1953 on the 100th birthday of José Martí

The monument was completed in 1958 during the last days of the

Batista dictatorship

The design includes an enclosed observation deck on the top floor, the highest point in Havana accessible by elevator, with impressive views over the city in all directions

Outside, overlooking the Plaza de la Revolution is a 18 m high white marble statue of José Martí carved by Sicre

On the ground floor you see two rooms with correspondence, writings and objects from the life of José Martí

A third room illustrates the history of the Plaza de la Revolution and a fourth room is used for displays of contemporary art

At the cemetery "Cementerio Santa Ifigenia" in Santiago de Cuba is the Mausoleum of Jose Marti

Cementerio Santa Ifigenia is the large cemetery for freedom fighters and revolutionaries from Santiago de Cuba

You have to pay entrance fee to visit the cemetery and if you want to make photos you'll need to buy another ticket

At the entrance there are some guides who speak English

Left on the cemetery stands the mausoleum of Jose Marti

A tower of stone from Havana (representing his youth) on a surface of marble

In the center is a marble statue of Marti

Every half hour the guard changed with music

Along the main avenue is the tomb of y Emilio Bacardi Moreau

The pyramid of black marble has a truncated top and symbols

that he was a freemason

Opposite the mausoleum of Marti lying several "martyrs of the revolution", including a number of fighters during the attack on the Moncada barracks deceased in 1953