The historic pool of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba was demolished

The historic pool of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba was demolished this week as part of an investment in the tourist facility, which was declared a national monument in May 1998.

Art curator Abelardo Mena was alarmed by the decision and shared a picture on Facebook of the state the pool was left in after the demolition.

“The violation committed by Hotel National in the work carried out in the North Pool was confirmed. The work was stopped and the National Institute for Regional Planning and Urbanism (INOTU) was notified to use the current procedure,” Mena wrote. .

On another note, the expert recalled, the pool was decided to be a historical monument in 1989 because people staying at the hotel bathed in it, leading to confusion over the decision to completely destroy it.

“There is no need for any such action,” he said.

Luis Miguel Díaz Sánchez, director of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, announced to the official company at the end of last year. Latin PressIt will be an investment process, which includes the aforementioned pool.

“The capital investment of the historic pool and the total remodeling of the buffet restaurant are on track to begin in January 2023 and be completed by May,” the manager said, without providing further details of the process.

Cyber ​​Cuba Patriotism of the works if the management of the hotel, the Gran Caribe Institute, and the Office of the City Historian of Havana have been consulted for more details about what happened; But till now they have not responded to the messages sent.

He National Hotel of Cuba Opened in 1930, it is an eclectic Spanish-style building that fronts Mount Taganana and the Malecón, with views of Havana harbor and part of the city.

It was designed by a New York architecture studio McKim, Mead and White, Funded by National City Bank In New York, it was built in fourteen months by the American Engineering Company Purdy and Henderson.

For more than 90 years, it has hosted prominent guests such as Winston Churchill, Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Jimmy Carter, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Keaton, George Negrete, Augustine Lara, Rocky. Marciano, Tyrone Power, Romulo Gallegos, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Ernest Hemingway, Yuri Gagarin, Alexander Fleming and others.

The hotel has also been involved in controversial events such as Blocks access to Cuban citizens, who wished to enter their facilities; One Sales of “Romantic Dinners” in 2021 for more than three thousand pesosCuba had a very difficult year of epidemics and the use of emergency work to quickly impoverish the people.