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• 01 / 23 / 2010

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Relics of local architecture of homes at Viñales Valley are now being kept in their original appearance through an emergent program to preserve the charms of that Cuban landscape, Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

 Sponsored by the local government and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) the project proposes to rescue huts (bohios) in the locality (homes with palm leaf roofs) destroyed by hurricanes during their pass across this western province.

One of the premises is the preservation of patterns identifying this type of construction; now with the novelty of masonry homes in the valley, said the director of the Office of Monuments, Nidia Cabrera.

It is a new space, she added, where families will be able to store their property in face of a threat of a hurricane and that offers more security for the farmers of the region, it is a similar program to the Mambi Project used in rural communities of Pinar del Rio."

Another priority to conserve the values of the locality (about 160 kilometers from Havana) is the increase of areas dedicated to tobacco crops, typical of the region and creation of small storage facilities to keep water for irrigation.

Cabrera commented that with the help of experts and local inhabitants restoring housing in the central road of Viñales is an example of colonial architecture.

During the initial phase, after being hit by hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2006 several materials were used to roof the houses. Now we will begin to replace them by colonial tiles (made of clay) that characterize the locality, explained the expert.

Restoration of the Culture House is among the refurbishing works for which UNESCO has set aside 75,000 dollars and the country large resources.

Viñales Valley with its Jurassic mogotes and population were declared Cultural Landscape Heritage of Humanity in December, 1999 as an almost poetic example between man and his exorbitant natural landscape.


Source: PL