First Stage to Restore Santiago de Cuba’s Future Decorative Arts Hall Underway
It takes a big deal of knowledge and desire, starting with the conception of the project, for an institution to look majestic, refined and pleasant from the outside. Precisely, that’s the aspiration of the young students that are being trained in different disciplines at this city’s Ugo Luisi Restoration Workshop School.
Click on Santiago de Cuba: A City of 500 Years
They follow the mark of the sculptor that eternalized the memory of brave sons of the eastern region, that’s the case of the Monument to General José Maceo on Loma del Gato, as well as those dedicated to Generals Joaquín Castillo Duany and Francisco Sánchez Hechavarría, nestled in Parque de la Libertad.
“This school aims at teaching young people how to work and help the society, among other objectives”, Ramón Cobas Avivar, Director of Ugo Luisi Restoration Workshop School said. “Our workshops have trained three thousand qualified workers in terms of restoration, including carpentry, smithery, plumbing, electricity, archaeology, brushwork and bricklaying”.
All these workers are actively participating in the restoration tasks related to the 500th anniversary of the foundation of Santiago de Cuba. That’s the reason why we can see them working on capitals, moldings, among other aesthetic elements to be included in the city’s Decorative Arts hall.
“With plaster, water and cord they bring to life the pieces created by architect Carlos Segrera”, Osvaldo Pérez Bell, restoration bricklaying professor. “We apply this new technique, the work with silicon and latex, which allows us obtain a carefully worked finish and keep on making pieces.
We started working in this property back in late 2013, as there was some serious level of damage. We’re presently dismantling the roof in an effort to restore the pieces that can be saved”, he pointed out.
The project to refurbish the Decorative Arts Hall enhances the experience of these apprentices, since they are working in a property of great historic and heritage property. That was the opinion of María Caridad Salazar Carmenaty, a second-year restoring bricklayer plasterer trainee, who confesses to be very excited with this restoration due to the exuberance of the pieces.
There is great motivation in this group of students and professors that love architectural decoration, an art that takes both knowledge and sensitivity.
