Oratorio de San Felipe Neri
Former colonial church turned bank vault, now a domed concert hall prized for its acoustics.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Oratorio de San Felipe Neri in Havana starts with a 1990s discovery under the altar: thirty-three coins sealed into the original foundation stone, one for every year of Christ's life. It traces the church's strange run of lives since the Oratorians built it in 1693, through the British occupation, more than a century of Capuchin friars, and the Discalced Carmelites who took over in 1887. In 1924 the Carmelites sold the building outright for two hundred sixty-eight thousand dollars, and workers tore down the bell tower to make way for what came next. Stand under the restored dome and count how many different buildings these same walls have been.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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