previous  CUBA > 22 next A girl is observing the visitor at the Plaza Mayor, the centre of the old town Trinidad, where most colonial houses and museums are located. Founded in 1514, the town was the base for Diego Vel�zquez's expeditions to the new world. In 1988, UNESCO declared Trinidad and the nearby Valle de los Ingenios a World Heritage Site, citing "...the city was a bridgehead for the conquest of the American continent. Its 18th- and 19th-century buildings, such as the Palacio Brunet and the Palacio Cantero, were built in its days of prosperity from the sugar trade.".