José Martí Memorial.

This guide to the José Martí Memorial in Havana sets the towering star-shaped monument to poet-general José Martí, who died in battle in 1895, against the block-long steel mural of Che Guevara staring at it from across the square. You'll hear how the marble tower rose under dictator Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s, and why sculptor Juan José Sicre's seated statue of Martí ended up at ground level instead of at the summit he'd originally planned. The guide also traces the plaza's own history as a stage for mass rallies. Stand between the two monuments and follow the sightline connecting revolutionary and writer.