The Finca Vigia Foundation will be sending construction materials to Cuba for the preservation of the Hemingway Museum, said Executive Director of this organization, Mari Jo Adams, who is in Havana taking part in the 15th Ernest Hemingway International Colloquium.
Adams announced that the U.S. Department of State and the Treasury had authorized the shipping, which will be used for restoration purposes at Hemingway’s former house, the Vigia Farm, which is now a museum located on the outskirts of Havana.
The donation comprises four containers of materials for the construction and furnishing of an on-site preservation and archival workshop.
The workshop will also include two laboratories with all the equipment needed to preserve the legacy of the author of The Old Man and the Sea, without having to take the pieces out of the museum for restoration.
“For two years, we worked together with Finca Vigia Museum executives to determine the technical requirements for the construction of the workshop,” said Adams.
She also explained that they had submitted the project for the approval of the U.S. government in October 2014, and had been granted authorization in May.
The construction works, which should start next year, are expected to conclude in 2017.
The American foundation has been helping the Cuban museum for over 12 years, providing best-practice advice to specialists in Cuba and support in other areas.
Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s primary home from 1939 to 1960, is a big property consisting of a large main house, outbuildings, and extensive gardens.
It was there that the Nobel Prize Laureate wrote some of his most famous books, and also the place where he kept his animal trophies, fishing rods, and many other personal objects that can be seen today along with paintings, photographs, and a personal library of almost nine thousand volumes.
In 2005, the National Trust for Historic Preservation of the United States listed Finca Vigia among the 11 most endangered historic places of relevance for the culture and history of that country.
