Conversations with Eusebio Leal Spengler, City Historian of Havana: ‘We are an Island and We Need to Have an Ongoing Dialogue with the World That Surrounds US. Any Attempt to Isolate US is a Mistake.’

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.6.2.0127
• Published date: 01 December 2014
• Date: 01 December 2014
• Pages: 127-136
• Author: Salim Lamrani,Translated from the French by Larry R. Oberg

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InterVIeW

ConVerSatIonS WItH euSebIo leal

SPenGler, CItY HIStorIan of HaVana:

‘We are an ISland and We need to HaVe

an onGoInG dIaloGue WItH tHe World

tHat SurroundS uS. anY atteMPt to

ISolate uS IS a MIStaKe.’

Salim Lamrani

Eusebio Leal Spengler is City Historian of Havana, the ‘City of Columns’, as

Alejo Carpentier liked to call it. A Doctor of Historical Sciences (University

of Havana), he is a specialist in archaeological science and internationally

recognised for his work in preserving the historic character of the Cuban capital.

Born in 1942 and self-educated in his youth, Eusebio Leal was a disciple of

Emilio Roig de Leushenring, founder of the Off‌ice of the Historian of Havana,

the leadership of which Leal assumed in 1967.

The mission of the Historian’s Off‌ice is to contribute to the dissemination of

Cuban history and culture through ‘the preservation of material and spiritual

symbols and expressions of nationality [... and] the collective historical and

cultural memory of the city, especially its Historic Centre’, the largest such

colonial centre in Latin America.

He is also President of the National Monuments Commission, a United Nations

Goodwill Ambassador and a member of the unicameral Cuban Parliament.

Since 1981, Leal has been responsible for the restoration and preservation of the

Historic Centre of Havana, a national monument since 1976 and a Heritage for

Humanity site since 1982.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the advent of the

Special Period in Time of Peace, Cuba was plunged into a deep economic

crisis. Leal was nonetheless charged with continuing the work of restoring the

Historic Centre of the capital, but with severely limited resources. As head of

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