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The two lions, guardians at José Martí park´s east entrance in Cienfuegos city, will be restored in situ in what is considered the first restoration in public spaces to sculptures of the Cienfuegos heritage.
Clara Elena López Pérez, specialist in international relations and cooperation project of the Office of the Curator of the city of Cienfuegos (OCCC), declared exclusively to the Cuban News Agency that the intervention will be led by Italian experts, including Dr. Cecilia Santanelli, from the Italian Latin American Institute (IILA).
She added that the lions sculpted in Carrara marble will be subjected to a diagnosis, and according to these results they will receive the benefits of a restorative process from March 2 to 14.
López Pérez explained that these actions are part of the practical part of the Stone Restoration Workshop to be taught by IILA specialists to 12 students from the Joseph Tantete trade school, in the Cienfuegos province.
López Pérez referred to the theoretical part of the course, in which they will learn the techniques and methodology of the art of restoring stone, as well as revitalizing the ancient knowledge in these disciplines.
This workshop is part of the contribution of the Italian government, through the IILA and the Office of the Curator of the City of Havana, in the rescue of the Cuban cultural heritage.
According to the specialist, Cienfuegos has been part of the Network of Heritage Cities since 2015, the date on which the Paper Reconstruction Workshop was held, and then they carried out the one dedicated to the restitution of wood.
Those lions in the Martí park were acquired by Emilio Fernández Cavada in 1862 in New York, commissioned by Colonel José de la Pezuela, then governor of Cienfuegos.
The urban landscape that houses the two sculptures has historical, cultural and patrimonial values, among others, because it contains the founding point of the city, from April 22, 1819; be scenarios of the main events of sociocultural development; and possess identity elements of architecture, which makes Cienfuegos a unique city of the 19th century.
