While the wife gazed at the namesake basilica, and the husband read aloud from a German travel book, taxi drivers and tour guides flocked toward them like pigeons diving for breadcrumbs. The Franciscans built their first church in Havana in 1591. After destroyed by storms in the late 17th century, the current Basilica de San Francisco was finished in 1716. About 15 years later, the Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco de Asís was established. Today, the property is a concert hall, and the adjoining monastery is a museum of religious art. The three-tier, 140-foot bell tower overlooks the south end of Plaza de San Francisco. In the foreground is a white Carrara-marble fountain. Fuente de los Leones (Fountain of the Lions) was sculpted by Giuseppe Gaggini and installed in 1836.
