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A logical introduction to Ponce's past is the Ponce History Museum , Calle Isabel 53 (daily except Tues 9am to 5pm; US$3, US$1 children; tel 787/844-7071), housed in two Neoclassical buildings whose architecture is as compelling as the collection, which traces the city's 300-year history, with an emphasis on its noncomformist stance on Puerto Rican politics. For a US$20 deposit, the museum will lend you its guidebook (written in Spanish and English) to 45 historically and architecturally significant structures in town. Some of them surround the Plaza de Las Delicias , or Plaza of Delights, a lovely hodgepodge of buildings at the centre of the historic district. It's unified by carefully landscaped greens, with tiled walkways, fountains and antique lamplights dating back to 1916. The Indian laurel topiaries that encircle the plaza are almost 100 years old, and the Fountain of Lions, illuminated by coloured lights, came from the 1939 New York World's Fair. Ponce's signature red-and-black striped Moorish-inspired Parque de Bombas , or firehouse (daily except Tues 9.30am-6pm; free; tel 787/284-3338), was constructed for the 1883 World's Fair; the architect, Maximo de Meana y Guridi, gave it to the Ponce fire company soon after. It served as a social gathering place and music hall and home to the Banda de Bomberos de Ponce (firemen's band), directed by Juan Morell Campos, a statue of whom also stands in the plaza; today the old firehouse serves as a firefighter museum. The city's original chapel was built in the 1660s on the site of what is now the pale blue Neoclassical Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral (Mon-Fri 6am-3.30pm; Sat & Sun 6am-noon), whose structure has suffered damage over the years from various earthquakes. The original was destroyed in 1835 and rebuilt in phases - in 1839, 1911 and finally 1930 - though most of the existing structure resulted from the final restoration. Casa Armstrong-Poventud may well be the prettiest building on the Plaza de Las Delicias, with its ornately embellished facade and caryatids flanking the heavily carved wooden front doors. Built by a Scottish banker as a private home in 1900, the French Neoclassical structure now houses the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena Sur (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; tel 787/844-2540).
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