Havana Camara de Representantes
About Camara de Representantes
Camara de Representantes
In Calle Oficios is the Camara de Representantes. Two plaques recall the memory of Antonio Nuñez Jimez and Mario Fortuny, a highly respected Minister of Education between 1948-1952.
This neoclassical palace known as the Cámara de Representantes (House of Representatives) was the former seat of the Cuban government from 1902 until 1929. It was one of the three most used public buildings in the first decades of the Republic and is actually an extension of an earlier house built in 1895 after the War of Independence.
The entrance here is quite astonishing. Items of interest are the iconic paintings high up on the arches and corners of the room. They represent various stages of the education system from primary school right through to university, which is compulsory for all students.
Along the side are several display cases containing decoration medals, signed passports by the illustrious Manuel Sanguil and other documents by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Even the first money to circulate in Cuba is on exhibit.
This is the parliament room which boasts decorative baroque details and a beautiful Italian marble floor.
The building is noted for being the third to hoist the national flag from 1902 until the new Capitolio building was inaugurated in 1929. From then, the building was taken over by the Ministerio de Instrucción Pública y Bellas Artes. Shortly after, the Department of Education moved in, hence the memorial to Fortuny.
It was here on the 3rd of January 1959 that Dr Armando Hart Dávalos signed into Cuban law the Resolución para la Campaña de Alfabetización (the Literacy Campaign) that sought to bring education to the countryside. In fact, ‘After two years they declared that they had eradicated illiteracy’ as Castro initially shut down the schools for almost one year and sent 50,000 students into the country.
Other governmental departments had a brief stay here but in May 2000 the building was turned into a museum and used for cultural activities for the youth. Various rooms call to mind those stages and memorable occasions of Cuban independence.
This next room reveals uniforms of some of the institutions that organized the birth of the Republic including the Musical Band, clothes belonging to the President of the Senate Ricardo Dolz Arango and three uniforms of the National Army. The original Cuban flag used by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is also in the corner.
The final room is the former president’s office and is quite plain except for this striking stain glass window of which there appears to be no significance and perhaps was completed simply for decorative effect.
References
http://www.bridgew.edu/SoAS/jiws/April07/Kasinsky.pdf
http://www.ohch.cu/_menu_1/info.php?cat=Museos%20y%20casas%20museos&iditem=65&id_Cat=2
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