Tributes continue for Eusebio Leal’s birthday anniversary
This week, the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana (OHCH) is celebrating what would have been Dr Eusebio Leal Spengler’s 83rd birthday. Highlights include the inauguration of the exhibition ‘Quito and Havana: Two Capitals, World Cultural Heritage Sites”, which showcases the work of Cuban photographer Julio Larramendi and Ecuadorian photographer Andrés Jiménez. The exhibition is taking place at the Oswaldo Guayasamín House Museum.
Other events this month include a keynote lecture on World Heritage Cities Solidarity Day, delivered by Anne Lemaistre, Director of UNESCO’s Regional Office, at the Old Palace of the Second Captain in Havana. The Old Palace of the Second Captain will also host the signing of an agreement between the Network of Offices of the Historian and Conservator of Cuba’s Heritage Cities and the San Cristóbal Travel Agency.
On 11 September, the day marking Leal’s birth in Havana, a tribute will be held at the City Museum, featuring a performance by the National Concert Band. Homero Acosta, Secretary of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power, will deliver the keynote remarks. Later that afternoon, the exhibition ‘Eusebio Leal: Visual Passages of His Life” will open at the Palace of the Second Captain within the Centre for the Interpretation of Cuba–Europe Cultural Relations. Prior to this, the José Martí Birthplace Museum will present the audiovisual piece ‘Martí’s Route in Havana’, guided by the late historian Eusebio Leal.
The new headquarters of the state-owned SME Ratoncito Blanco will also be inaugurated on this day at Habana 614. Other planned initiatives include the launch of the “Fiñes” album by the La Ceiba label of OHCH. The album features songs by Abel Geronés and Alex Díaz and will be presented at the Quinta de los Molinos with the Solfa Choir, conducted by Maylan Ávila. The tracks include ‘Fiñes‘, ‘Saterry’, ‘Madre querida’, ‘Como una paloma’, ‘Como Eusebio con La Habana’, ‘Mataperros’, ‘Buenas costumbres’, and ‘Fiesta de carnaval’. Notably, ‘Mataperros’ was composed by Alexis Díaz Pimienta and Geronés.
During the second week of the month, Nodo Habana will host the Evaloquio ‘Poetry and Words for Leal’, the Colonial Art Museum will close the ‘The Art of Dressing’ exhibition, and the House of Africa will open a museological and bibliographical exhibition focusing on Leal’s life and work.
On Friday, there will be a special tour of Castillo Santo Domingo de Atarés, highlighting the importance of archaeology in restoring historic buildings — a lesson taught by the late historian. Furthermore, at the building named after him, the “Children Guides of Heritage” workshop will present “A Walk Through Eusebio Leal’s House”, involving primary and secondary school students from the José Martí Pioneers Organisation, to celebrate the 64th Anniversary Congress of Havana Vieja.
The III Meeting of Havana Weavers, a gathering for crochet and textile artisans, will also take place at Habana Espacios Creativos, offering free admission. In the Historic Centre, the Carmen Montilla Gallery will host the exhibition ‘Eternally Fiñe’, and singer-songwriter Rita del Prado will perform at a Viva Plaza concert in Plaza Vieja.
Another exhibition, ‘True Reason for a Tribute’, will open in September, displaying works from participants in the ‘Starting the Paths of Photography’ workshop led by photojournalist Raúl Abreu at the House of Green Tiles.
Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez
