The Cuban National Experience

Isabel Rigol Savio
ICOMOS Cuba

Cuba has a rich and diverse cultural heritage that has been basically preserved while other countries in the same area lost a great part of their historic towns, monuments and sites during the second half of the XXth century. As it often happens, the lack of funds and a limited investment capacity did not allow the transformation or modernization of these valuable built tock. At the same time, after 1959 most investments were orientated towards the rural areas and out of the capital city with the aim of achieving a more balanced territorial development. Cuban towns, and particularly their historic areas, remained mostly untouched or at least kept their main characteristics.

Before the sixties, only isolated monuments or plazas were intervened. It is important to quote that the first significant works took place on Plaza de Armas during the 20's performed by architects Govantes and Cabarrocas and on Plaza de la Catedral by Architect Luis Bay Sevilla in 1936, both responding more or less to a philosophy related to Viollet Le Duc, so commonly employed at those times. Later, some other important monuments were restored, though in a questionable manner. In general a policy on preservation did not exist, although the Constitution clearly established the state's obligation to do so and some decrees had declared Old Havana, Trinidad and Bayamo as National Landmarks. The influence of Modern Movement prevailed on most architects' and decision makers' thinking. While a lot of good architecture was built in Havana, for instance, little was done in the field of preserving urban and architectural heritage.

As a consequence of the overall cultural and educational program launched in the sixties, a National Commission for Landmarks was created, working in coordination with the cultural authorities. Important tasks were then undertaken in Havana. Some of them were La Fuerza Castle (XVIth century), started to be restored by the Catalonian Francisco Prat Puig in 1958, Plaza de la Catedral where the Colonial Arts museum and a restaurant were installed, José Martí's birth house and others. After the Venice Charter in 1964 the preservation works would be guided under a broader scope in terms of a clearer understanding of whole complexes and not only of the sole monument. Research programs and inventories were started in the main recognized historic towns as Havana, Trinidad and Santiago de Cuba. Under Dr. Marta Arjona's orientation in the seventies, a team of young architects formulated the first draft for Old Havana's General Guidelines, in coordination with the Master Plan for the City of Havana. In 1976 two basic laws were approved by the National Assembly, Number One on the National Cultural Heritage and Number Two on National and Local Landmarks. With the ideas comprised on the General Plan and a stronger legal support, the Ministry of Culture and the Historian's Office formulated in 1981 a Five Year Plan for the Rehabilitation of Old Havana . For the first time there was at least a short term program referred to the whole historic town. Also for the first time, a considerable budget had been approved by the central government with this purpose. Among the most important works started were Plaza de Armas and its surroundings, Plaza Vieja and Santa Clara Convent.

In order to obtain an international support, the conditions already existed: a national and local awareness on a recognized valuable heritage, updated legal instruments, a lot of research on monuments and historic towns (mainly Old Havana), an acceptable amount of trained professionals (above all, committed young ones), a system of national and local institutions in charge, a considerable budget allocated....Cuba had been early and closely related to UNESCO through the efforts of some outstanding national intellectuals and, among other actions had signed the World Heritage Convention in 1981. Under these favorable circumstances on that year the Cultural Heritage Directorship of the Ministry of Culture applied for a five year term UNESCO UNDP project in order to support the creation of the National Center for Conservation, Restoration and Museology as a specialized entity that would be devoted to research, to train, to advice and to undertake relevant preservation projects countrywide as well as to work on a regional cooperation. This center started to function in 1982 in La Fuerza Fortress while Santa Clara Convent was restored. Three years later part of the Center, until more restored areas were available in 1985) moved to the Convent where a specialized library and a classroom, among other new functions, were installed.

At the same time Havana and its Fortifications were proposed and included in the World Heritage List. An International Campaign for the Safeguarding of Plaza Vieja was also then approved and announced in Havana by Amadou Mahtar MBow, UNESCO's General Director. Beyond some funds obtained from UNESCO and small donations from abroad, what was really more significant from such a Campaign was the local stimuli to the rehabilitation, if not all, of five of the most threatened Colonial buildings surrounding the Plaza. In order to revitalize the formerly decayed are three relevant cultural institutions moved to their new venues in Plaza Vieja while fifty families from the town, that lived in bad conditions improved their living standards when they got the new flats produced by the rehabilitation plan.

The UNESCO UNDP support to the National Center (a first stage from 1981 to 1986 and a second from 1986 to 1990) meant the considerable contribution of one million US dollars to the process of establishing a strong national technical foundation with a regional scope. Never before Cuba had had an overall postgraduate training program on preservation as the one then initiated and held with the assistance of well known professors from ICCROM as well as European, Latin American, Canadian and American universities and institutes specialized on the field. At the same time local specialists attended courses and research programs abroad with scholarships provided by ICCROM, the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Spanish Cooperation Agency, the Getty Conservation Institute, Goethe Foundation from Germany scholarships given by Regional UNESCO UNDP Project and other sources.

An advanced equipment for conservation laboratories (the largest then in Latin America then) was acquired. A close link with specialized international organizations and well known institutes like the Bundesdenkmalampt from Vienna, the Louvre Laboratories, Preservation Program from Pennsylvania University and others was established.

A Regional scope was approached through the Center's own development and its relationship to UNESCO. Particularly important was the UNESCO UNDP Regional Project led by Sylvio Mutal which definitely helped to achieve a Latin American and Caribbean network.

Bilateral agreements with foreign entities like the Polish Restoration Agency (PKZ) were then signed in order to assist Cubans with their recognized expertise and to train professionals and craftsmen.

Within the UNITWIN Program sponsored by UNESCO a Regional Chair on Integrated Conservation, encompassing research and training for tropical conditions among other topics, was approved by UNESCO in 1994.

Even though the considerable amount of efforts and funds dedicated to training and capacity building, for a country with limited resources and a particular economic status, it was difficult to find all the financial means needed to rehabilitate its built heritage. Undoubtedly, without the above mentioned ways of assistance, the Cuban heritage institutions would have never achieved in such a relatively short term the their skills.

The so called Special Period which started in 1990 after the collapse of the East European Socialist Countries (with which most Cuban economic trade took place), could have meant a profound paralysis of the preservation programs. And it initially did. But little by little, new ways of doing were found. First of all it is obliged to mention the role played by Eusebio Leal, the Historian of the City of Havana, a charismatic and devoted man, with a rare combination of intellectual, political and management abilities. Leal, confronted to the dramatic limitations of the moment, evidently understood how to manage the new and painstaking situation and consequently, proposed a new manner of dealing with the preservation of Old Havana's heritage. The approval of Decree 143 by the government in 1994 meant for this Office an amazing and innovative decentralization of decisions, the approval to administrate the tourism and commercial activities within this territory as part of the heritage preservation complex, the imposition of taxes to all the entities there, and the permit to accumulate and reinvest part of the revenue gotten, among other items.

Currently the Historian's Office comprises a large complex of specialized groups as a Heritage Division, Master Plan Office, two rehabilitation enterprise with more than 800 eight hundred skilled workers and craftsmen, the Habaguanex Enterprise that runs hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, shops, bakeries, the San Cristóbal Travel Agency and other commercial, cultural and social facilities. The local health and educational services as well as the police are also economically assisted by the Office.

It has also been allowed to negotiate and implement joint ventures with both national and foreign sources. For instance the rehabilitation of the Lonja de Comercio, a handsome Rennaissance Revival office building from 1903 on San Francisco Square was successfully refurbished as a joint venture between Leal's Office and a Spanish investor. Now, instead of the common unattractive administrative functions it housed before, it is the venue of important airlines and other companies. The revenue achieved in a short term shows that it is possible to raise funds at the local level when heritage management is oriented to take profit of tourism and business, exercising the necessary controls to avoid any negative impact.

Another interesting current achievement is the overwhelming amount of international dissemination that has taken place: books, articles, tourism guides....  Never before so many national and foreign publishing companies had produced books on Havana. Good examples are books like Havana by Nancy Stout and Jorge Rigau published by Riccioli in New York and Cuba: 400 Years of Architectural History by Rachel Carley and Andrea Brizzi also in New York, articles appeared in the New Yorker, Preservation, National Geographic Magazine and others. Evidently, for many writers and journalists in the whole world, Havana and also other Cuban historic towns have turned into a sort of "discovery".

After Old Havana's increasing success, other preservation teams in Trinidad, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba have been allowed to implement a similar procedure of heritage management.

As one conclusion, we could point out that even though a deep economic crisis has taken place, preservation has not decayed but increased. This fact, that might be associated to a kind of miracle, has been possible due to:

-    A defined policy regarding the preservation of cultural heritage and its relationship with national identity.
-    The approval and implementation of a new and innovative managing and financing method for Old Havana first and later for Trinidad, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba.
-    The international cooperation and assistance.
-    The international recognition, i.e. World Heritage (Havana, Trinidad, Morro Castle in Santiago de Cuba, Viñales Valley, National Park Alexander von Humboldt.)

"Architectural restoration has become a national obsession, the most visible, talked about, and hotly debated activity in urban Cuba," writes Los Angeles based conservator Rosa Lowinger in her Cover Article in a recent issue of Preservation.  In it she adds that "For those who have been missing out on this hemisphere's best kept architectural secret, that commitment should be a comforting thought."

But even though much has been done in terms of saving the national cultural heritage, Cuban preservation community is currently facing, more than ever, big challenges as:

-    the huge amount of landmarks versus a tremendous lack of money.
-    the unavoidable deterioration of a large amount of buildings ( most housing) caused by their age, by a very aggressive tropical climate, by years of no maintenance and inadequate functions.
-    the requirements of development, particularly those related to the fast growth of the tourism industry and the necessity to achieve a more balanced relationship between tourism, heritage and society.
-    the not yet so evident need to defend modern landmarks and areas in a moment in which the new investments search for privileged urban locations.

Among the main achievements in terms of thinking it is important to mention that:

-    Not only isolated buildings are appreciated but also their surrounding context as well as whole areas and neighborhoods, or towns and landscapes.
-    Not only the oldest or Colonial landmarks are praised but also the XXth century heritage expressed through Eclectic Revivals, Art Deco, Streamline, Modern.
-    Not only the aesthetically qualified or sophisticated exponents but also the more modest and vernacular expressions are considered.
-    Not only the cultural uses but also housing, social facilities, tourism, commerce are being assumed as part of a social and economic sustainable use of monuments and sites.
-    Not only the Old Town in the Capital city is worth of rehabilitation but also other central areas from XIXth and XXth centuries as well as wonderful complex of minor towns countrywide.
-    Not only central decisions prevail but also, and each time more, local ones, proving its efficiency.

A special role indeed is being played by training programs. Besides the short courses that holds CENCREM each year, others have been organized in the nineties by the Historian's Office, mainly with the assistance of the University of la Gran Laguna and the CICOP. Three Master Courses are undertaken. The oldest and better well known until now is held by the Architecture School of Havana. A second one started two years ago at the Camagüey School of Architecture in the Eastern region and a third has just been initiated by the City Historian's Office with the assistance of the above mentioned University of Canarias.

An important way to support the rehabilitation efforts takes place through an agreement between this Office and the Havana School of Architecture. Different topics are undertaken by the students on their diploma thesis, under the orientation of Preservation professors. Important examples have been those related to the Harbor, the Jewish Quarter, Santa Teresa Convent and San Isidro Neighborhood, all in Old Havana.

Undoubtedly the rehabilitation of the old town under the national legislation and guidelines has been accelerated and turned into a more efficient activity under Eusebio Leal's leadership. A large amount of significant spaces and buildings in a bad condition and for a long time misused have been restored and readapted for new and more adequate or attractive functions, enhancing the Old Town's values and charm. Outstanding examples are the San Francisco Plaza by the harbor, with the Convent, the Lonja de Comercio, the Oriente and Mercurio Cafés, art galleries, shops, post office and other facilities. Just in front one of the docks from the 20's was adapted in order to be turned into a cruiseship terminal recovering its original function.

Plaza Vieja and Plaza de Armas, Obispo, Oficios and Mercaderes Streets, all started to be revitalized since the eighties, show very attractive results on which many preservationists discuss and debate. But the truth is that this areas exhibit a charming mood for both Cubans or foreigners.  The newly opened Santa Isabel, Florida, Count of Villanueva or Comendador Hotels are strong spots of attraction and a paradigm in terms of how old buildings can be recaptured and reused in a very beautiful and profitable way.

Concerning other historic areas and building besides those in the Old Town, increasing consideration is given by scholars to Central Havana, Vedado and other traditional urban sectors in the City of Havana. But, the rehabilitation of these areas has not yet been possible. On one hand, due to the lack of money, on the other because to a lack of awareness at some decision levels.

Out of Havana City, in Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Trinidad and Cienfuegos the local authorities and teams have been working very seriously and efficiently for years. But yet, due to the lack of resources after the Special Period, little is now done for instance in other towns that had before started rehabilitation programs like Guantánamo, Las Tunas, Matanzas. Probably a new management scheme like the one started in Old Havana and followed by Santiago, Camagüey or Trinidad is necessary.

But, though not as it would be needed, efforts are anyway done everywhere on one way or the other.

Pinar del Río the most Western province has performed a very good exercise in order to preserve its recently declared World Heritage Site Cultural Landscape, Viñales Valley. A very serious management plan has been worked out and is currently under rigorous implementation. Viñales is one of those cases that shows how the World Heritage Declarations have stimulated the local authorities and the inhabitants, to better preserve their heritage sites. Beyond any funds obtained, what has been really determinant is the reaffirmation and pride with regard to their patrimony.

The mission of preserving Cuban Heritage is quite clear for hundreds of professionals countrywide. The task, though supported by laws and guidelines, is particularly difficult due the still present lack of funds to invest. It is not a matter of lack of awareness but a matter of money in front of something that is generally expensive in a first stage.

International support means a stimulus or a seed but all the necessary actions and programs cannot be thus based. Only national and local decisions are definitely determinant. In my opinion local decisions and participation are the touchstones in a country with a very strong tradition on popular organizations which have done extremely efficient contributions on public health campaigns, natural disasters and other aspects of social and communal development. But their link to heritage preservation is something yet to be stimulated. The San Isidro ongoing program in Old Havana is a hope.

For a small and poor country the amount of heritage that has survived is amazing. But then, after this recognition and knowledge, as a contradiction it turns into a real anguish for the people involved. How to preserve all that we know deserves to be saved? Of course, pragmatically speaking, it is not possible to do so in a hundred percent of the historic fabric of the country, specially with the wide approach achieved with regard to what is historic. Billions of dollars would be needed in a short term before the structures collapse.

Then, a tremendous analysis is to be done in order to establish and plan the unavoidable loss and the adequacy of addition of the new. A very high capacity on the design of new elements to be inserted within old contexts has to be developed very soon. In this sense the Architecture Schools have to insist even more.

The value of external influences is great and indispensable. Other countries' good and bad experiences have to be analyzed in order to find our own way. Accepting contemporary trends and advances but in correspondence with national and local cultural, geographic and economic conditions. With sensitivity and refinement which do not always require huge amounts of money but talents and skills, and these, specifically aware of the context where they will be applied. Some Cuban teachers of architecture many times claim for the study of Carlo Scarpa in Italy as a paradigm, of the work of teams like Beyer, Blinder and Belle in the USA and many others whose works might be beyond our budget but should not be very distant from our capacity to think and create.

In the last times some events have debated this topic. For instance a conference and exhibition held in 1999 in Havana by the MAK (Applied Arts Museum) from Viena with the participation of relevant Austrian architects like Peter Noever and Carl Pruscha, Eric Owen Moss or Tom Mayne from USA, Carme Pinos from Spain and others. The result was an amazingly sophisticated one, out of any possibility to be currently applied to the Cuban context. A provocation, a pretext for polemics? All right if so....  But can something very attractive but without identity or relation with the country's essence then emerge as a new image of Cuban heritage? A matter of place and time. What might be good or a fun for Vienna, New York or Barcelona does not necessarily suit Havana.

In the interesting book Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis by Coyula, Scarpacci and Segre [1] the latter affirms that some of us (people engaged in preservation) have sustained conservative positions regarding new interventions in Old Havana. I do not agree. As I once told him A It is not a matter of shyness or fear, but one of care instead; because historic towns cannot be assumed as landing fields for Jumbo kind of architects.[2]  Because there is, of course, a place on monuments and historic areas for creativeness but not for exaggerated individualism, snobbish experimentation on fashions or architectural jokes.

Some recent examples in Havana demonstrate it is possible to do things right: Architect Roberto Gottardi's rehabilitation of an old restaurant in the corner of Prado and Neptuno or Architect Jorge Caunedo's on Ambos Mundos Hotel. Also José Antonio Choy and Julia León have carefully but creatively enlarged a 1957 bank by Eugenio Batista on Fifth Avenue by means of a clearly up-to-date and light second story which makes the original classic-modern and sober facade more evident than it was before, this way intelligently showing two different but matching stages of the building's life. Another interesting and not prejudiced intervention is Andrés Garrudo's rehabilitation for offices of the Sierra Maestra building (former Rosita de Hornedo aparthotel by architect Cristóbal Martínez Márquez in the fifties) on Miramar's seaside.

In the case of Miramar and Vedado quarters, the above mentioned projects are the best ones. Some others, fortunately not so many yet, have not been successful. But they mean an alert with regard to the dangers represented by the newly and growing emerging construction activity in the country, which naturally looks for the most privileged and well located land. In order to prevent any further deterioration of the traditional and handsome urban image of these areas, the National Commission for Landmarks has approved a new Resolution declaring several parts of Miramar and Vedado as Protected Sectors. Currently all projects for these areas must be approved by this Commission integrated by several prestigious architects and other professionals from the preservation field.

Another recent resolution protected the famous Schools of Arts designed in the sixties by Architects Ricardo Porro, Roberto Gottardi and Vittorio Garatti in Cubanacan District (former Country Club). A new project for the rehabilitation of this beautiful complex of buildings design is now ongoing. This masterwork of Cuban architecture was inscribed in the World Monuments Watch List 2000.

What is clear for the Cuban preservationists is that growth is not only possible but necessary. Only that it has to take place in the proper place and manner, adding values to our heritage, not substracting or hiding them.

The Cuban National ICOMOS Committee plays an important role in this sense, promoting debate and taking an active role within the National Landmarks Commission as well as giving advise to the National and local specialized entities. ICOMOS's international network has been quite useful in terms of exchanging experience and attracting attention. One extraordinary proof of ICOMOS's capacity to act positively beyond any barriers was the US-Cuba ICOMOS tour held in 1998 during which 25 members of US ICOMOS could enjoy for ten days both Cuban heritage and warmth.

Undoubtedly, both preserving the valuable amount of natural and cultural landscapes, historic towns and landmarks that compose the national monumental heritage will take time and tremendous efforts. But considering the framework of diverse difficulties and limitations that they have had to overcome in order to perform their tasks as well as other conditions that might operate against their noble goal, Cuban preservationists can be proud and hopeful.

ISABEL RIGOL-SAVIO is a Preservation Architect and Planner and serves as President of ICOMOS Cuba. She received her graduate and undergraduate training at the Instituto Superior Politecnico Jose Antonio Echeverria (ISPJAE) in Havana, and ICCROM in Rome. Ms Rigol was Head of the National Department for Urban Control, and where she oversaw urban revitalization projects in several cities in Cuba. Later, she served as Director of the National Center for Conservation, Restoration and Museology in Havana, a position from which she retired in 1997. During her tenure she directed its training programs as well as important conservation projects for monumental districts and buildings. Ms Rigol has lectured extensively in Latin America, europe and the United States, including Tulane University and the University of Pennsylvania. She is now Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation in ISPJAE. Ms Rigol is a former member of the ICCROM Council, and of the ICOMOS International Executive Committee. She has undertaken World Heritage evaluation missions on behalf of ICOMOS in various countries of Latin America, as well as UNESCO missions to Venezuela, Jamaica, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and others, Her work has been recognized and honored by the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the Panamerican Federation of Architects.

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[1]    Coyula, Scarpacci and Segre.  Havana: Two faces of the Antillean Metropolis.  Wiley & Sons, New York, 1988.

[2]    Debate sustained between Segre and Rigol during the Seminar on Tourism, Zacatecas, Mexico, 1992.