/ARTS WEEKLY/ ARCHITECTURE-CUBA: Camaguey, the Undiscovered City

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

CAMAGÜEY, Cuba, Dec 6 2004 (IPS) - Narrow alleyways, colonial houses with tiled roofs and tree-filled inner courtyards, along with fascinating local legends make Camagüey one of the most attractive destinations in Cuba – and one of the most sadly overlooked by the mainstream tourism industry.

The capital of the central Cuban province of the same name, some 500 kilometres east of Havana, is little more than a stopover for groups of tourists headed to the nearby beaches.

When it comes to choosing a place to go or to recommend to visitors, Cubans usually opt for such major tourist destinations as the picturesque colonial city of Trinidad, the stunning natural scenery of Pinar del Río, or the world-class beach resort of Varadero.

But almost no one thinks of the historical and cultural wealth of the city of Camagüey, founded in 1514, one of the first seven townships established by Spanish colonists on this Caribbean island.

“There are tourists who arrive in town at 6:00 p.m. and leave the next morning. When they get here, they find a city that’s totally dead. The museums are all closed, and they have no idea where to go or what to do, because there’s so little done to promote the city,” said Sandra Jiménez, a 37-year-old engineer and native of Camagüey.

Few visitors discover the five-cornered square, or lose themselves in the old city’s labyrinth of streets and alleyways. According to legend, the streets were purposely laid out in this seemingly haphazard manner to confuse the pirates who posed a constant threat to the city more than four centuries ago.

Travel agencies limit Camagüey to the status of a stopover, as opposed to a destination in its own right. The tourism industry has done little to take advantage of the cultural wealth of this city, whose historic centre, which covers 300 hectares, is the largest in Cuba.

This lack of promotion is evident to the specialists at the Camagüey Historian’s Office, which is responsible for the preservation and promotion of the province’s historical and cultural heritage.

Teresa Pascual, who works in the Office’s urban development section, told IPS that far more could be done to draw visitors to the city by making better use of its potential as a cultural tourism destination.

One of the obstacles is the Office’s lack of financial resources. By contrast, the City Historian’s Office of Havana has access to part of the profits brought in by the tourism facilities and other businesses in the capital’s historic centre, and these funds allow it to carry out a wide range of cultural preservation and community projects.

“If tourism and cultural heritage were linked together, so much could be achieved,” said Pascual.

Cultural and historical tours of the city could include colonial-era plazas, centuries-old mansions, and the impressive religious architecture in this city of 12 churches, seven of which have significant heritage value.

To help promote such an initiative, the Camagüey Historian’s Office is preparing an architectural guide that will include information on major landmarks, as well as local history, customs, traditions and culture.

There are a total of 14,351 buildings in Camagüey’s historic city centre, of which 13,320 are used as housing. According to official records, 4,769 of these buildings are considered to be of high architectural value.

Around 58,200 people live in the area, which has a population density of just over 194 persons per hectare. The population has remained stable over the last 25 years, and according to local specialists, the people who live in this community feel a particularly strong sense of belonging.

Camagüey is one of the country’s most important cultural centres, with large and active visual arts and theatre communities. It is also the only province in Cuba with its own ballet company.

The creation of the Camagüey Historian’s Office in 1997 provided a boost to the restoration work already underway in such landmarks as the Plaza del Carmen, a public square dating back to the 19th century, and the Plaza de San Juan de Dios, from the 18th century.

“It gave us the opportunity to extend our efforts to the interiors of houses, instead of limiting our work to the facades,” explained Maiveris Varona, from the conservation and restoration department of the City Historian’s Office.

In addition to construction projects involving public squares and buildings that house businesses and services, the Office was able to undertake “more ambitious efforts to improve the living conditions of the people who live in the historic city centre,” she told IPS.

But finding the way to the Plaza del Carmen is still difficult for non-locals, while the Plaza de Juan de Dios, more centrally located, has yet to recover its status as a bustling hub of activity, as it was before the economic crisis that hit the country in the early 1990s.

“In the tavern they served chorizos (spicy sausages) with Tínima beer, brewed right here in Camagüey. Next door there was a herbalist who prepared every kind of infusion imaginable. People would go back and forth between the two, and spend the whole night in the square,” recalled Jiménez.

Where these two establishments used to be, there are now fast food restaurants that simply offer the same sandwiches and beer served in similar places throughout Cuba.

This is why Jiménez believes there should also be an effort to revive the traditional venues “that still inspire nostalgia in the people who live here, and helped make our city unique."