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Havana’s imposing Historic Center is currently being
transformed by an extensive remodeling process. To
see it come to life before our eyes is a delightful
and astonishing experience indeed. The promoter and
mastermind of this phenomenon is the talented,
analytical Dr. Eusebio Leal, the perfectly balanced
combination of a utopian and a realist, of social
reformer and investor, of historian and modernist.
What is the principal challenge in preserving this
heritage?
”I must confess that many of us were trained as
pure intellectuals, as expert who – from our
laboratories or offices – were primarily in charge
of museums, monuments and archeological sites. Life
however, has led us to consider this approach –
and now we have definitely corroborated it – that
in our countries, heirs to a vast patrimonial
legacy, it is impossible to accomplish anything in
the field of preservation if it doesn’t also
involve the social development of the community.”
Thus the façades and interior of the buildings now
recapture their former splendor; the plasterwork is
defined; walls are covered, last details has been
worked out and the buildings once again flaunt their
bright colors. Art has brought it all back to life,
although this project would be all in vain, if we
overlook the fact that it was undertaken in order to
be used.
This precisely the goal established by Eusebio Leal
and his team: to bring each building back to life by
supporting and generating activities for and by the
residents of Old Havana. For example the museums are
now equipped with classrooms, where children attend
their regular schools, and every two months they
move to another museum. This practice not only
provides them with theoretical knowledge, but also
with the specific cultural subject matter exhibited
by each museum. As a result, their country’s rich
heritage, displayed in museums like Casade Juarez,
Guayasamin, Casa Lamm or Casa Arabe also now belong
to them.
Preserving a tangible or in tangible heritage
confronts Cuban with the dilemma of the active
versus the contemplative. They venture to say that
the path to truth consists in identifying one and
the other without rejecting the exceptions, the
extraordinary… They must accept this patrimony as
a whole, as a valuable asset that contributes to its
own subsistence without restoring to privatization
or subjecting it to the effects of speculation and
undue exploitation.
This financial autonomy, if they may call it that,
allows them to provide continuity to this
restoration project, even in the midst of an
extremely precarious economic situation.
Consequently, each remodeled building is immediately
put to use and begins to generate economic benefits,
therefore generating sufficient income to continue
remodeling the next building. “Our aim is to
create a socioeconomic structure, which, in time,
will be self-supporting and linked to the cultural
character of the region, to the discovery of its
traditions and to recovery of its old values, and
subsequently constitute a source of employment.”
Gradually, the downtown area is coming back to life:
over here there is a woman’s hospital; over there
a family-style hotel; a little further beyond, there
is a workshop, where women embroider and spin. This
is a community interwoven within the splendor of its
magnificent architecture.
The four main squares in Old Havana – San
Francisco, Cathedral Square, Plaza de Arms (Parade
Ground) and the Old Square – now display their new
image: This effort has not been solely restricted to
the Historic Center, since it has also expanded to
other parts of the city like the Malecon and San
Isidro.
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