Cienfuegos - City of Cuba

Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of the province of Cienfuegos. The city is dubbed "La Perla del Sur". Cienfuegos literally translates to "Hundred fires".

The area was called Cacicazgo de Jagua when the Spanish arrived here, and was settled by indigenous people.

The city was settled by French immigrants from Bordeaux and Louisiana, led by Don Louis D'Clouet, on April 22 1819. Its original name was Fernardina de Jagua, in honor of Ferdinand VII of Spain. The settlement became a town in 1829, and a city in 1880. The city was subsequently named Cienfuegos, sharing the name with Cienfuegos, a Captain General in this time, in the island.

During the Cuban Revolution the city saw an uprising against Fulgencio Batista and was bombed, on September 5, 1957.

In 2005, UNESCO inscribed the Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos on the World Heritage List, citing Cienfuegos as the best extant example of the 19th-century early Spanish Enlightenment implementation in urban planning.

Castillo de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Jagua - fortress
Arco de Triunfo - the only Arco de Triunfo in Cuba
Cathedral de la Purisma Conception - cathedral with stained glass work, built 1833-1869.
Delfinario - dolphins and sea lions in a saltwater lagoon
Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos - 97 hectares of botanic garden
Museo Provincial - furniture and porcelain museum
Palacio de Valle - built 1913-1917 in neo-gothic style
Palmira Yorubá Pantheon - museum of religious afro-catholic syncretism
Parque José Martí - park in Plaza de Armas
University of Cienfuegos "Carlos Rafael Rodríguez" - the province's secondary education institution