Restoration of Hemingway's Cuban hideaway likely not done until late 2009
By Will Weissert
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:14 a.m. March 21, 2007
HAVANA – Work to restore Ernest Hemingway's Cuban hideaway probably
won't be finished until the end of 2009, held up in part by efforts to
build a garage to house the author's long-lost Chevy convertible, museum
officials say.
Hemingway lived at Finca Vigia, or Lookout Farm, on Havana's
southeastern outskirts from 1939 to 1960. He wrote "The Old Man and the
Sea" and children's fables at the home, which he shared with nearly 60
cats and at least 10 dogs.
Following his suicide in 1961, Hemingway's widow turned the property
over to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and it became a museum the next year.
But time and tropical elements have ravaged the eggshell-colored home
and the documents inside, which include the never-published epilogue of
"For Whom the Bell Tolls."
Efforts began in 2005 to repair Finca Vigia and restore its grounds
along with the papers, furniture and other objects inside.
Museum director Ada Rosa Alfonso would not say Tuesday how much
restoration has cost to date, or how much was needed to finish it.
"It's a process that requires dedication and time," she said.
The budget for the restoration comes from the Cuban state and "it will
continue providing it," she said. The museum is "open to accepting any
kind of donation or support" but she said that Washington's embargo has
blocked willing American donors.
The restoration likely won't be completed for at least 2 1/2 more years,
she said.
Six U.S. experts have obtained permission to travel to Cuba and aid in
restoration, and Alfonso said that the last American visit came in August.
Academics from around the world plan to attend the museum's 45th
anniversary celebration beginning April 1 – the date Hemingway is said
to have first visited Cuba during a brief layover in 1928. Festivities
wrap up July 21, the author's birthday and anniversary of the museum's
1962 opening.
Alfonso said the government planned to build a garage and bungalow, and
provide information about the four cars Hemingway owned while living at
Finca Vigia.
Isbel Ferreiro, the museum's deputy director, said in an interview
before Tuesday's news conference that officials recently tracked down a
1955 Chevrolet convertible Hemingway had owned, and are negotiating with
its Cuban owner to buy it.
Finca Vigia was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's
list of most endangered places in 2005. Originally chartered by U.S.
Congress, the Washington-based trust is now privately funded.
The trust said two years ago that the house's roof was leaking, the
foundation crumbling and plaster was falling off the walls. But evidence
of Hemingway remains, including a daily record of his weight and blood
pressure penciled on a wall behind the bathroom door.
Ferreiro said the notations were made by an elderly – and decidedly
robust – Hemingway. But buried under six layers of paint, officials
recently discovered a similar record of a younger Hemingway's weight,
which the author scrawled on a separate bathroom wall in the 1940s.
"He was obsessive about that," she said of Hemingway's habit. "It's very
funny because some of the notations are followed by different notations
from the same day that say 'after eating' or 'after having a beer,'"
Ferreiro said.
Workers have painstakingly restored the main house, even reviving a
radio Hemingway used to listen to afternoon news reports from Miami.
While work continues, visitors cannot enter the home but can peer into
its rooms, which are said to be exactly as Hemingway left them.
Fine paintings grace the walls and the library features books in 33
languages. A magazine rack is stocked with decades-old copies of Sports
Illustrated and U.S. News & World Report.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070321-0014-cuba-hemingwayshideaway.html
By Will Weissert
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:14 a.m. March 21, 2007
HAVANA – Work to restore Ernest Hemingway's Cuban hideaway probably
won't be finished until the end of 2009, held up in part by efforts to
build a garage to house the author's long-lost Chevy convertible, museum
officials say.
Hemingway lived at Finca Vigia, or Lookout Farm, on Havana's
southeastern outskirts from 1939 to 1960. He wrote "The Old Man and the
Sea" and children's fables at the home, which he shared with nearly 60
cats and at least 10 dogs.
Following his suicide in 1961, Hemingway's widow turned the property
over to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and it became a museum the next year.
But time and tropical elements have ravaged the eggshell-colored home
and the documents inside, which include the never-published epilogue of
"For Whom the Bell Tolls."
Efforts began in 2005 to repair Finca Vigia and restore its grounds
along with the papers, furniture and other objects inside.
Museum director Ada Rosa Alfonso would not say Tuesday how much
restoration has cost to date, or how much was needed to finish it.
"It's a process that requires dedication and time," she said.
The budget for the restoration comes from the Cuban state and "it will
continue providing it," she said. The museum is "open to accepting any
kind of donation or support" but she said that Washington's embargo has
blocked willing American donors.
The restoration likely won't be completed for at least 2 1/2 more years,
she said.
Six U.S. experts have obtained permission to travel to Cuba and aid in
restoration, and Alfonso said that the last American visit came in August.
Academics from around the world plan to attend the museum's 45th
anniversary celebration beginning April 1 – the date Hemingway is said
to have first visited Cuba during a brief layover in 1928. Festivities
wrap up July 21, the author's birthday and anniversary of the museum's
1962 opening.
Alfonso said the government planned to build a garage and bungalow, and
provide information about the four cars Hemingway owned while living at
Finca Vigia.
Isbel Ferreiro, the museum's deputy director, said in an interview
before Tuesday's news conference that officials recently tracked down a
1955 Chevrolet convertible Hemingway had owned, and are negotiating with
its Cuban owner to buy it.
Finca Vigia was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's
list of most endangered places in 2005. Originally chartered by U.S.
Congress, the Washington-based trust is now privately funded.
The trust said two years ago that the house's roof was leaking, the
foundation crumbling and plaster was falling off the walls. But evidence
of Hemingway remains, including a daily record of his weight and blood
pressure penciled on a wall behind the bathroom door.
Ferreiro said the notations were made by an elderly – and decidedly
robust – Hemingway. But buried under six layers of paint, officials
recently discovered a similar record of a younger Hemingway's weight,
which the author scrawled on a separate bathroom wall in the 1940s.
"He was obsessive about that," she said of Hemingway's habit. "It's very
funny because some of the notations are followed by different notations
from the same day that say 'after eating' or 'after having a beer,'"
Ferreiro said.
Workers have painstakingly restored the main house, even reviving a
radio Hemingway used to listen to afternoon news reports from Miami.
While work continues, visitors cannot enter the home but can peer into
its rooms, which are said to be exactly as Hemingway left them.
Fine paintings grace the walls and the library features books in 33
languages. A magazine rack is stocked with decades-old copies of Sports
Illustrated and U.S. News & World Report.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070321-0014-cuba-hemingwayshideaway.html
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