The United States approved a 25,000-dollar fund to restore the former home of U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, the Finca Vigía Foundation, the entity that works with the authorities in Havana to preserve the now house-museum, reported this Monday.
The money will also be used for the creation of a restoration center, as well as for the maintenance and rescue of “thousands of documents, manuscripts, letters, and photos, along with his library with 9,000 books,” the organization added in a statement.
For the charge d’affaires of the U.S. embassy on the island, Benjamin Ziff, the fund approved by the U.S. government highlights the historical and cultural value that the house represents for both Washington and Havana.
“Supporting Finca Vigía represents our commitment to preserving the incalculable history and shared cultural heritage that links the United States and Cuba,” highlighted Ziff, quoted in the press release.
For his part, Frank Phillips, co-president of the Finca Vigía Foundation, underlined that this fund is the first “financial support from the U.S. government.” and that, therefore, it is “incredibly significant.”
“Our hope is that the embassy’s support can inspire others to contribute,” Phillip added.
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The Finca Vigía mansion, located about 15 kilometers from Havana, was the residence of the U.S. writer for more than twenty years and became the Ernest Hemingway Museum after his death on July 2, 1961, when he committed suicide by shooting himself with a hunting shotgun in Idaho (USA).
Hemingway spent long stays between 1939 and shortly before his death at Finca Vigía, where he even wrote part of some of his most famous novels, including The Old Man and the Sea, a very important work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
The museum preserves a collection of more than 20,000 personal objects and documents that belonged to the novelist, including books, hunting trophies, records, weapons, stationery, photos, a typewriter where he used to write standing up, and the yacht El Pilar, with which he went out fishing and sailing in the Caribbean Sea.
