Cuba’s Capitol Restored Just in Time for President Obama’s Visit
The Cuban capitol building is nearly identical to the U.S. in Washington D.C. but because of anti-American sentiment it was hardly ever used after the Cuban revolution. Now after massive restorations the capitol is set to reopen.
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When Barack Obama visits Cuba some of the scenery may seem a little familiar. No we are not in Washington D.C this is Havana’s “El Capitolio.”
Just like the United States capitol building that it closely resembles, “El Capitolio” is getting a face lift.
Completed in 1929, a year after the only other us presidential visit to Cuba, El Capitolio is a symbol of the island’s boom years when the price of sugar was sky high.
No expense was spared: Long halls of marble, bronze elevators, a cupula even higher than Washington’s.
“They made a building with all the resources they had in order to make an exceptional building,” said Marilyn Mederos.
But that luxury and grandeur fell out favor following the upheaval of the Cuban revolution.
After taking power in 1959, Fidel Castro’s wanted his revolution to break with the past. He was making a new society with new centers of power. Buildings like the Capitolio became symbols of the waste and corruption of the old Cuba and over the years fell into disrepair.
Cuba’s national assembly relocated to this drab convention center. At the Capitolio water leaked through the roof and bats took up residence inside the building.
However five years ago a team of Cuban government preservationists embarked on the painstaking effort to save El Capitolio.
Slowly decades of neglect were stripped away. When work began architects did not know Cuban president Raul Castro intended to move the island’s national assembly back to El Capitolio, “It’s a jewel,” Castro said in 2013. “It’s true there was a time during the era of capitalism that’s where all the bandits met but not any longer now that it’s ours.”
Architects would have to add modern conveniences like air conditioning, security systems and internet for lawmakers without altering the building’s appearance.
The restoration team said they were instructed to maintain the historical integrity of El Capitolio. Even the outdated seals from the defunct Cuban republic and the chamber where debates will be held, although it only has a third of the seats needed for the over 600 members of the current national assembly.
All the same preservationists say lawmakers will return here in the next few months, ensuring that Cuba’s grand “El Capitolio” once again has a future.
Source: CNN
