Cuba Restores Trinidad Historic District
Sancti Spíritus, Sep 25 – The Tres Cruces neighborhood in the central southern city of Trinidad is undergoing a rehabilitation project sponsored by Spain”s Andalucia Board of Public Works and Housing.
In statements to Prensa Latina, Francisco Gomez Diaz, professor of the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Seville, Spain, explained that it all began with an architecture guide to find the patrimonial value of the city of Trinidad and the Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills).
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988, Trinidad and the valley are located in the central province of Sancti Spiritus, about 370 km east of Havana.
Gomez Diaz, who is also international cooperation coordinator in Cuba for the Andalucia Board, said that three stages of housing rehabilitation have been completed as part of this project, which began in 2002 with identification and blueprints.
The first phase, in 2005, was devoted to the surroundings of the Plaza de las Tres Cruces and the second consisted of restoration work on the streets of Real del Jigue and San Antonio, which concluded a year and a half ago.
The Plaza de las Tres Cruces, also known as Plaza del Calvario and considered one of the first urban developments of the city of Santisima Trinidad, has in its center three wooden crosses that stand on stone foundations.
Gomez Diaz said that work was almost complete on the third phase of the project, corresponding to the streets Real del Jigue and Amargura to Tornero, which should be finished before the end of the year.
A fourth phase could include the area surrounding the Tres Cruces, he added.
The restoration work has consisted of refurbishing over 100 homes with new roofs, the substitution of wooden elements, and new electric wiring.
All of that is to be completed before the 500th anniversary of the founding of Trinidad in January 2014, he said.
Trinidad was the third of the first seven colonial villages founded by Diego Velazquez in Cuba.
Source: Prensa Latina
