What to do and see in Havana, Ciudad de la Habana Province: The Best Specialty Museums

The Museum of the Affections is the largest Art Brut Museum in Cuba. Its creator "Gallo" is 94 years old. Before being an artist he was Diplomat and Agent of the Cuban Intelligence. After his retirement he created this unique space. Recycling and reusing irons, personal items and unusual materials. He has created an outdoor garden full of art while turning his apartment into an authentic Gallery

Dedicated to and named for the great Cuban surrealist painter known as the Cuban Picasso, this gallery and museum is just behind the Catedral de la Habana in the elegant, 18th-century Casa del Obispo Penalver. Along with a permanent exhibit of Lam's lithographs and etchings, the center hosts temporary shows with works by contemporary Cuban and South American artists. Lam, born in 1902, studied in Spain and fought with the Republic against Franco. He later fled to France, where he was influenced by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and the poet Andre Breton, among others. He returned to Cuba to support the Revolution, and later returned to Paris, where he died in 1982. His best works hang in the Cuban collection of Havana's Museo de Bellas Artes. COST: $3. Mon.-Sat. 10-5.

The Latin inscription over the main door of this church and convent dedicated to St. Francis reads: non est in toto sanctior orbe locus (there is no holier place on earth). As it's now a museum and concert hall, it may no longer be earth's holiest place, but it certainly is one of the loveliest. Built in the 16th century, in 1730 it was restored in a baroque style, resulting in a richly adorned facade with fluted conchlike tympanums over the doors and windows. Just inside the door you'll see tombs beneath a glass floor panel. (Churches were used as cemeteries until Bishop Espada founded what is now the Necrópolis Cristóbal Colón in 1868, a detail all Cubans seem to know and cherish). Note also the 19th-century grandfather clock made by Tiffany. The rooms to the right of the nave house archaeological finds and art exhibits.