The Provincial Council of León, Spain, and the Institute of Culture from that province financed with 25,000 euros the restoration of the Pantheon of Colonia Leonesa in Havana. Construction work in the Colón Cemetery, where the monument is located, began last Tuesday when a group of workers relocated the boxes with the remains of nearly three hundred Leonese who died on the Island.
The monument “presents a lamentable state, unworthy for the people of Leon who are there,” the president of the León Provincial Council, Eduardo Morán Pacios, said at the presentation of the initiative, according to collect this Saturday the newspaper Leon News. The idea of restoring the site arose after the visit of the Spanish deputy Pablo López Presa to the Island.
The cement boxes with the human remains that were on the lowest floor of the pantheon were moved to higher areas to start the works from the ossuary, confirmed to the newspaper Raúl Parrado, president of the Colonia Leonesa on the island, who assures that before After making this transfer, the stained glass windows and windows were protected, which will also be repaired.
The pantheon has three levels and a thousand Leonese who emigrated to the Island rest in it
The pantheon has three levels and a thousand Leonese who emigrated to the island rest there. The monument was built at the beginning of the last century and, although the restoration work is expected to be completed in eight months, the severe crisis that the country is experiencing and the scarcity of materials could hinder that objective, comment the descendants of these emigrants, who still reside in Cuba.
The entire façade will be renovated, in addition to the windows, which will be changed “for the same ones, but made of wood.” Work will also be done on the interior conditioning and the repair of the stained glass windows that decorate the pantheon, Parrado points out.
At the same time, a documentary will be recorded to record all the work that is carried out in the 102-year-old monument, considered a symbol for the Colonia Leonesa in Cuba. The material will address the history of the place and the people who rest there.
In the last year, the Spanish community residing on the Island has received various financial aids
In the last year, the Spanish community residing on the Island has received various financial aids. One of the most recent was provided by the Castilla and leon meeting, through which 344 applicants received 349.25 euros each. This benefit was aimed at “procuring coverage of the basic needs” of those “who are in a situation of extreme need or precariousness” abroad.
The descendants of Leon are not the only ones who suffer the abandonment and destruction of the cultural facilities of their emigrant ancestors in Cuba. At the end of February, 14ymedio denounced the unfortunate state in which the headquarters of the Canarian Associationwhich has been intervened by the Cuban government.
The Casa Canaria Leonor Pérez Cabrera, where the members of the Association used to meet, was a meeting point for the many Canarians or Cubans originating from the Spanish archipelago.
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