Cojímar marks anniversary with mural celebrating its seaside heritage
Children and artists turned a worn wall in Cojímar into a bright mural, tying the town’s anniversary to its fishing roots and its next generation.
A worn wall near a long-closed junior high school in Cojímar turned into a bright neighborhood canvas as children and local artists painted a mural for the seaside town’s anniversary. The scene was modest and hands-on, with brushes shared and paint spread by hand, as the fishing village’s history was redrawn in bold color.
Cojímar, about 7 kilometers east of Havana, has long measured itself by the sea. Its origin is commonly linked to the completion of the Torreón de Cojímar on July 15, 1649, and some local accounts mark the anniversary on July 16, the feast day of the Virgin of Carmen, patron saint of sailors. That link to the coast is not just symbolic: the Torreón forms part of Havana’s fortification system, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The town’s shoreline also carries another familiar landmark. Near the harbor, a bust commemorates Ernest Hemingway, whose name remains tied to Cojímar’s identity for many Cubans and visitors alike. In that setting, the mural did more than brighten a wall. It placed children inside the town’s visual memory, letting them help decide how Cojímar should look and feel as it marks another year.
The painting also fit into a broader arts effort already taking shape in the neighborhood. COSPE, the Italian organization involved in related Cojímar work, has been partnering with Cuba’s Centro Félix Varela on a cultural project called Creative Zones. That effort includes the restoration of the More House, a former primary and junior high school being adapted for artistic use and for the benefit of local children. In a place where buildings age quickly and resources are tight, the project has become a small but practical form of recovery.
That is what made the mural stand out. It was not a ceremonial gesture from above, but a neighborhood act of memory-making, with children helping carry Cojímar’s maritime identity forward in fresh paint. On a wall near an empty school, the town showed that its anniversary is still about the future as much as the past.
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