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The Colonial Churches of Santiago de Cuba
photographs by Carlos Domenech
on view February 6-22, 2015
On October 25, 2012, Hurricane Sandy swept north across the Caribbean, pounding Santiago de Cuba, and parking itself over the tattered, time worn and vulnerable city causing widespread devastation on the Island's original Colonial Capitol.
Santiago De Cuba is home to a constellation of Spanish Colonial churches from the 17th and 18th century, now in desperate need of restoration. Monsignor Dionisio Garcia-Ibanez, the archbishop of Santiago, began almost immediately, without government assistance, to reconstruct this extraordinary artifacts. Beginning with the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, a structure built and rebuilt in place for nearly 500 years, he collaborated with European and American Universities, while assembling and training a school of craftsmen to complete the ambitious work, now underway.
This photographic series was documented by Carlos Domenech in 2013. This marked Domenech's first return to Cuba since leaving the island in 1966. His photographic approach documents the unfortunate present conditions of these historic buildings and the restoration efforts underway.
Introduction by:
Jorge L. Hernandez, AIA, Professor, University of Miami School of Architecture
Sponsored by:
Ana Laura Arellano
Idigital
Bacardi
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