On January 27th, the World Monument Fund (WMF) organized a symposium and workshop regarding the options U.S. academic and non-profit institutions have to better support their Cuban partners in preserving Havana's heritage. Ambassador José Ramón Cabañas was among the speakers of the event entitled “Against the Current: Priorities and Pathways for Supporting Preservation in Havana”.
In his remarks, Ambassador Cabañas spoke about the diverse meanings that the word preservation could have in a world that according to him is destroying itself every single day. “When we talk about Preservations do we mean just buildings and documents? Are we thinking about non tangible heritage, languages and culture? Do we refer to the preservation of peace? Those are ideas coming to my mind in recent days and probably we should address them pretty soon into the future.”
In this broad logic, he expressed Cuba’s political will to accomplish the 22 Memorandums of Understanding signed between both countries in different areas of mutual interest. In fact, “despite the present scenario of bilateral relations, the Cuban institutions and government remain committed and willing to maintain and expand cooperation with American institutions in the field of historic preservation. There are many joint projects that Cuban organizations have undertaken alongside their American counterparts and we acknowledge that there is still a lot of room for greater cooperation in the field of the arts, culture and heritage in general.”
Among the projects, Ambassador Cabañas mentioned the collaboration between the World Monuments Fund and the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana in the partial restoration of the first cloister of the Convent of Santa Clara and the joint project between Cuba's National Council of Cultural Heritage and the Boston-based Finca Vigía Foundation to maintain Ernest Hemingway’s home. Besides, the Bronx Museum of the Arts played an important role in the installation of the replica of New York’s statue of José Martí in Havana. Other examples are the Day of Cultural Exchange between the U.S. city of Mobile and Havana that took place in October 2019, a workshop on the preservation of photographs held between the National Council of Cultural Heritage and the APOYOnline Association for the Heritage Preservation of the Americas, sponsored by the American University of Delaware, the exchange among members of the President´s Committee for the Arts and Humanities of the United States, senior officials and specialists from the National Council of Cultural Heritage and the office of the Havana City Historian in April 2016, and the 47th Conference of the Committee on Design of the American Institute of Architects that gather Cuban and American architects and experts in Havana.
According to Ambassador Cabañas, “the restoration movement in Cuba today is strong for a variety of reasons; it encompasses civic pride and political will.” Examples of these achievements were Havana’s 500 anniversary celebrations last November in which Americans were the largest group of foreign visitors to attend.
The Cuban diplomat remembered that last October the Hadrian Award was granted by the WMF to the historian of the city of Havana, Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler in recognition of his efforts to preserve and restore Old Havana, declared Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. “During that ceremony it was also recognized and shown the conservationist philosophy that animates the restoration of Havana´s Historic Center, its social commitment and the governmental support that the project has received since 1993, when the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, conceived and signed Decree Law 143, instrument of great value for the comprehensive rehabilitation of this area of high patrimonial significance for the world.”
As part of these efforts, “the Office of the Historian of City of Havana (OHCH) runs four restoration schools providing training in 12 different trades for students between the age of 18 and 25. There are 13,000 restorers working for OHCH today, which means that the labor force devoted to these endeavors has increased with young and talented people. The Network of the Offices of the Historian and Curators of the Heritage Cities was founded in 2013. The Office of the Historian of City of Havana has become a model for Offices of the Historian in other province heritage centers. There are five other Heritage cities, each with their own Office of the Historian—Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo—and six other cities are slated to be added. Both Trinidad and Cienfuegos are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and their ambitious restoration and conservation projects have achieved international recognition.”
Ambassador Cabañas summed up by saying that “communities of experts in Historic Preservation in United States and Cuba have known each other for many years. They have been able to deliver concrete projects for the benefit of several communities. Under positive circumstances both countries could do still many things for their own benefit and to support third parties.”
To conclude, the diplomat expressed to the audience that they can always count on the support of the Cuban Embassy in Washington and our Mission to the United Nations. He concluded with one last suggestion “To consider celebrating an event like this in Havana or even better to tour those Cuban cities nominated World Heritage by UNESCO.”