Parque John Lennon

A small Vedado square with a bronze John Lennon on a park bench — his glasses kept under guard and placed on the statue for photos, having been stolen too many times to leave on.

Parque John Lennon is a small square in the Vedado neighbourhood containing a life-size bronze statue of John Lennon seated on a park bench, installed in 2000 — a peculiar monument in a country that banned his music for decades. The statue is by Cuban sculptor José Villa Soberón and depicts Lennon in his characteristic round glasses (held by an attendant), looking out at the square with an expression of mild contentment.

The park itself is a pleasant neighbourhood square with benches and shade trees, used by local residents in the evenings. The statue attracts a small steady flow of visitors who come to sit beside Lennon on the bench for photographs. It's a ten-minute walk from the Hotel Habana Libre, in a part of Vedado where you're unlikely to see many tourists and more likely to see students from the nearby university faculties.

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A story
John Lennon's music was banned in Cuba for years after the revolution — the Beatles were considered a Western bourgeois influence. The statue was unveiled in 2000 by Fidel Castro himself, who said: "What makes him great is his thinking, his ideas." The statue has no glasses on — they kept being stolen. A park attendant now holds the glasses and places them on Lennon's face for photographs, then takes them back.