By the Cuba Journal staff
The United States and Cuba are collaborating for a restoration project on Ernest Hemingway’s Havana home, according to a report by WINK News.
The Cuban government signed an agreement that will allow an American foundation to important construction materials from the US.
In addition to the renovation, the project will include the construction of a workshop next to Hemingway’s home, where the foundation will work to restore the late writers many documents, drafts, and letters.
“It’s historic, not since the 1950s has a building with American materials been built here,” said Mary-Jo Adams, executive director of the Finca Vigia Foundation, which is named after Hemingway’s home.
Hemingway’s Havana residence served as his writing base for much of the later years of his life, and he consequently served as a rare symbol of connection between the US and Cuba during the Cold War era.
After his death in 1961, his widow Mary donated the house and its contents to the Cuban government.
The Finca Vigia Foundation began negotiation with the Cuban government in 2005 in order to save the home, which they feared was deteriorating.
The recent warming of US-Cuba relations has facilitated forward motion on the project, which now aims to bring the workshop piece-by-piece to Cuba by 2016.
“We will need to send a tremendous amount of tools over here,” Adams said. “Hammers, screwdrivers, nails, nuts bolts. Everything we send needs to have all the corresponding parts. We are under no illusions that there is a Home Depot in Cuba.”
