This important route of Old Havana owes its name to the building, in the first half of the eighteenth century, of the Colegio San Jos\u00e9 by the parents of the Society of Jesus, founded by St Ignatius of Loyola. Before this it was a wasteland, supper, where fishing waste was dumped and considered uninhabitable.
\nAround 1727, construction began on those lands that had been donated to the Company. Its facade was erected precisely in front of that street, while the annex temple was opened to Empedrado, on the corner with San Ignacio, in what began to be called, by the characteristics of its land, Plazuela de la Ci\u00e9naga.
\nThe College operated until 1767, when monarch Charles III expelled the Jesuits from their domains. In his place he was erected in 1773, thanks to Archbishop Santiago Jos\u00e9 de Hechavarr\u00eda y Elguez\u00faa, the Seminary of San Carlos and San Ambrosio, the most important educational institution in Cuba at the time. Meanwhile, the temple housed, from 1777, the Habanera Major Parish and in 1789, when the Bishopric of St. Kitts was erected, it was destined for Cathedral.
\nThe growth of these religious institutions enhanced the importance of the street and its surroundings. In the Plaza de la Catedral soon rose several of the residences of the most notable neighbors of the city, such as the Palace of the Marqueses de Aguas Claras in San Ignacio corner to Empedrado. On the top floor of that house had his home and workshop the painter V\u00edctor Manuel Garc\u00eda. \u03a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"