La Periquera, former residence of the Spanish Don Francisco Rondán, built in the City of Holguin, was for more than a century the Government House in the province of Holguin, linked over the years to relevant historical and cultural events during the colony and the first 59 years of the Republic.
For the people of Holguin, and Cuba in general, La Periquera is a revered site. It is considered the most important stage in the City of Holguin.
There are several versions about the name adopted by the home of the peninsular Rondán, but the most credible is the one related to the Cuban war of independence.
During the attack by the mambises of the Liberating Army on October 29 to 30, 1868 at the Rondán warehouse in Holguin, most of the defenders were Volunteers in the service of Spain, where the Cuban insurgents saw the odd Spanish soldier appear. of the colony through the windows of the imposing family structure.
It is said that when the mambises besieged Holguin, the Spaniards wore uniforms where red and green colors predominated (the colors of the Spanish flag), which the mambises and the people began to call pericos and from there the building took its name. name of La Periquera.
La Periquera, located on Frexes Street, between Libertad and Maceo, in front of the old Plaza de Armas in Holguin - also known for a time as Plaza de Isabel II, and currently Calixto Garcia Park -, after the Mambí attack on Holguin Where the Rondán property suffered dozens of impacts from a cannon projectile, its owner claimed from the Spanish government the losses inflicted on his home in the amount of around 12 thousand gold pesos. Then he retired to live in the municipality of Gibara.
The Hispanic authorities reconstructed the damage caused to La Periquera and rented the left wing of the property to the children of the former owner for the Government House.
In its neoclassical style rooms, its general architectural values and its central location, La Periquera became an obligatory place for events and meetings for more than a century.
After the declaration of the Republic, the national flag was raised in La Periquera in 1902. In 1936 the Demajagua campaign (beginning of the war of independence) was honored and posthumous honors were paid to Pepe Torres, Remigio Marrero and Panchito Frexes, illustrious Holguín residents, members of the Cuban Liberation Army.
Its numerous premises in La Periquera served as shops and other institutions such as cinemas on the ground floor, and on the upper floor, a chess school, public library, ballet, elementary education, and an exhibition hall.
Currently, the replica of one of the knockers at the access door to La Periquera is a symbol of the city of Holguin.
Due to its location, in the center of the City of Holguin, student and worker demonstrations paraded in front of La Periquera to protest the excesses of the pseudo-republican era. This building has always been linked to the struggles in Cuba for national independence.
On October 10, 1978, coinciding with the date on which the Cuban war of independence was declared in 1868 led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, this historic La Periquera site was declared a National Monument of Cuba and the Provincial Museum of Holguin.
EN 
ES