1959 Cuban Revolutionary Navy Official Photo – Havana Harbor – May 18, 1959

Original Cuban Revolutionary Navy Photograph – Havana, May 18, 1959

Exceptional original Cuban historical photograph documenting members of the Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Navy) during the first months following the Cuban Revolution.

The photograph shows a large gathering of Cuban sailors, officers and civilians aboard a vessel in what appears to be Havana Harbor, with the historic fortifications and lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor visible prominently in the background.

Most importantly, the reverse bears an original institutional stamp reading:

“MARINA DE GUERRA REVOLUCIONARIA – NEGOCIADO DE FOTOGRAFÍA”

together with photographic/order reference 170-59, department number 2, and the precisely stamped date:

18 MAY 1959

The official marking provides unusually strong provenance and dates the photograph to the formative first months of Cuba's revolutionary government.

During 1959 Cuba's armed forces were undergoing rapid reorganization, making photographs bearing the early Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria designation particularly evocative documents of this transitional period in Cuban military and political history.

Date: May 18, 1959
Country: Cuba
Location: Apparently Havana Harbor
Organization: Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria
Format: Original black-and-white press/institutional photograph
Reference: OT No. 170-59 / No. NEG. 2
Official marking: Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria – Negociado de Fotografía

Size: 6 3/4" x 4 3/4"

Condition: Original vintage condition with age toning, edge and corner wear, creasing and handling marks. There is visible wear and surface disturbance along portions of the lower area and corners. The reverse remains remarkably clean and retains the important original Revolutionary Navy photographic department stamp and May 18, 1959 date. Please examine all photographs carefully for exact condition.