San Juan de los Remedios, better known as Remedios, is a municipality and city located northeast of the central province of Villa Clara, former province of Las Villas, in Cuba. It was founded in 1513 by the Spaniard Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa following in the footsteps of the Adelantado Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. Although it is known as the Eighth Villa, some historians claim that it is actually the third oldest Spanish settlement in Cuba, only preceded by Baracoa (1511) and Santiago de Cuba (1515). One of the first founding families was that of Francisco Manso de Contreras; By the way, his great-grandson Andrés Antonio Manso de Contreras settled in it in 1606 with the aim of defending it against pirates and freebooters.
It is located about 5 km from the north coast of Cuba and 10 km by road from Caibarién.
In 1980 its historic center was declared a "National Monument". There you can find several examples of 17th century Spanish architecture in good condition.
Its main attraction is the Iglesia Mayor San Juan Bautista, which has 13 beautiful gold-plated altars. These altars and other works of art remained camouflaged under layers of paint for several centuries to prevent their looting by pirates. They were gradually rediscovered between 1944 and 1954, when Eutimio Falla Bonet, a well-known Cuban philanthropist, paid for the reconstruction of the church.
The central plaza Isabel II, or park attached to the Iglesia Mayor, was restored in the 1970s. Remedians suffered from pirate attacks during the colonial period. After an attack by El Olonés, the opinions of the villagers regarding its location were divided, some wanted to move it inland, while others preferred to stay and face the pirates. Of those who chose to leave, a group of 37 citizens left San Juan de los Remedios and in June 1689 they arrived at the place where the city of Santa Clara sits today and took up residence. About this historical fact Fernando Ortiz Fernández wrote his essay "History of a Cuban fight against the demons", published in 1959 by the Central University of Las Villas, and the filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea made his film A Cuban fight against the demons.