Introduction
A small town is consolation where tradition and culture come together and the preservation of heritage is something truly essential, we are characterized by kindness and complacency to anyone who wants to know and visit our small town that is why we must focus our attention on maintaining what tradition left us.
In this sense, the revolution that triumphs on January 1, 1959 includes within the new concepts of Cultural Revolution, which helps us to worry about the work of our territory.
The triumphant revolution in its beginnings did not have a clear conception of the need to rescue and preserve the local heritage in the towns of the interior, but in a short time it began to guide the designers and engineers in the need to preserve the immovable heritage. With the support and advice of the Municipal Museum and other factors interested in this mission, we undertook this beautiful task that will bring satisfaction to all those who truly want to appreciate the beauty of the historical ancestor.
Development
If we go back to the times when man had not had contact with the western Cuban territories, consolation was a region full of unique species.
Unlike other regions where men had shown remarkable construction skills, using the resources that nature provided, those who occupied the territory in question began to build the first buildings that are recognized in the territory in a very simple way.
A suitable place had to be chosen where the environmental conditions favored the rest and relaxation of the travelers, a small hut made of straw was built which lacked windows, and had a single room, had a small portal, and a kitchen that was found at the back of the house.
At the end of the seventeenth century, the Catholic Church realized the need for a religious foundation in the west of the country and its center would lie in what is now Consolacion del Sur and its influence extends east to Havana and west to the Cape of San Antonio.
In this way, crews were sent to build a church and then other constructions were added that fulfilled the objectives that the church intended, this is done by some peninsular elements that arrive on the island within them master builders, builders and builders, these constructions were buried by the topographic ignorance that those people who dedicated themselves to this had, for that reason they were forced to move that settlement to a higher area characterized by its mighty rivers and its pot-bellied palms that to this day is a symbol of this territory.
Between 1815 and 1850 the changes to the consolation town accelerated precisely because of the cultivation of the tobacco leaf that had been introduced in the region, in turn, tobacco created the wealth necessary for the economic take-off of the region, already in the middle of the In the XIX century there is a group of families in Consolacion that are noted for their fortune and culture, this contributes to refining the taste in the construction of houses and in the civilized structure that the town had to assume from now on. The enormous amount of removals in such a short time began to transform this small town, which tried to imitate the urban structure of the most civilized cities on the island,However, the technical and material conditions were not yet sufficiently developed for the creation of a modern city like one of those already existing in the eastern part of Cuba.
The population had grown considerably, the avalanche of immigrants who came to the town seeking to profit from the tobacco leaf had made the town grow, and the times of the village were behind us, the people of consolation now aspired to new urban goals, the creation of a new image of consolation was in the ideas of those who settled in the territory from more civilized areas of the island or abroad.
The isolation of this region and the late settlement of its partners allowed it to conserve majagua ebony oak and pines of different denominations, which allowed it to use wood as a material for its constructions. Once the conquest of the American Lands began, interest in the region diminished, this situation, together with the colonial lack of control of the area, brings with it that the development of architecture and urbanization was a phenomenon that developed from the 19th century. The existence of an important potential of timber resources in Vueltabajo, enables countless specialists in this field to come to consolation, who would be in charge of carrying out works that until today are preserved due to the quality of their wooden pieces, many of them worked with rudimentary instruments.
Of the constructive exponents of the colonial period that we still conserve in the territory, we can find the church and some of the residences adjacent to the consolation park, many of these have undergone modifications of the typology that they initially had.
One of the architectural structures of the first years of the 19th century had been developed corresponding to an architecture of marked popular character that responded to the typical patterns of Cuban colonial architecture, we refer to the so-called L floor, which presents a patio structure interior with portal in front that links the interior and exterior with a dual functional and spatial purpose, with decorative elements in wood, plaster and stone. The wooden columns that this structure presents end in a simple capital, supporting a piece that enlarged the support area of the same, through which ran a wooden beam called the solera, to support the system of joists, and thus distribute the uniform loads on the columns.
We also found roofs with sloping slopes where the roof was made with the so-called channel tiles, the board walls were fixed to a structure of interior pieces, the walls were made using pine wood planks (Tea), the doors and windows They were framed with a large jambar or molding, the railings and bars of the gates were resolved with smooth and circular iron bars attached to a wooden frame, the floor began as wood, but later it evolved by placing more resistant pieces of ceramic earthen.
It also typifies in this stage the consolation constructions, the architectural structure called floor C, structurally this is very similar to the previous one, with the only variant that the interior patio is limited at the back of the house by a transversal branch to the lateral gallery generally occupied by the kitchen and the dining room, these constructions were generally the exclusive property of the most solvent families of the town, who adorned their houses with beautiful columns that decorated the interior and the corridor of the house, its floors and walls with very fine slabs forming borders and ornaments characteristic of these constructions.
We have been able to realize that the urbanizing and civilizing elements in the town begin to take on an unlimited force, which imposed changes in the initial structure of the town, the cemetery was moved in the center of town, this was related to the construction of a new social work, we refer to the fact of building a parade ground, or public square, in our town, something very in tune with the new moral customs that prevail in the world at this stage.
We do not have official descriptive elements of this work, which determined a new stage in the urban environment of Consola, only the notes of Dr. Alcides Ferrero Obeso. This square was located in the place that the Ferrer park occupies, its contours surrounded by an iron fence, whose bars had termination in the form of lances at its upper end, the entrance to the square was through iron gates, located one to the west in front of the current 64th street and the other to the east in front of the parish church, between both gates there was a wide street that crossed the square, transverse to this there was another street forming a center or square, where the Spanish soldiers to have fun in their own way.
These two streets of the square were covered with mud bricks, on the banks of these streets and in the central square there were masonry benches separated from each other by small sections, this also presented gardens the square was separated from the church by a street.
It was evident that by the end of the XIX century the constructions in the town had taken a high flight, since a large number of families were putting down roots in these lands that, motivated by the guarantees that the cultivation of the tobacco plant gave them and the urban commerce, begins a Construction boom in Consolación del Sur, which led to the demand for a large amount of construction materials that until now were brought from very distant areas, a large project forced the locals to put into operation the production of construction materials, this was precisely the remodeling of the parish church for this it was necessary to put into operation a roof, several lime kilns and other supplies that would allow the construction project to be undertaken.
These small manufactures were motivated by the discovery in the northern area of the town of Consola, a huge deposit of mud, of great quality for the production of tiles and bricks, the first of these tiles was built on the north side of this town, in The neighborhood known today as El Tanque, this factory still exists and is one of the oldest industries in the territory, some of its warehouses for storage and production date back to the 19th century. Another of the mud deposits that supplied the town is located in El Palenque, Puerta de Golpe, these deposits were destined to supply the construction boom in Consolación del Sur.
Already in the 19th century, a new binding element had been introduced, Porland cement, unknown until now, characterizing the achievement of quality constructions in the period in question. Taking advantage of this discovery, this resource is used for the construction of the most colossal of works in the territory, which was the most important catalyst that motivated the increase in inputs in the region.
This work was completed in 1875, the result of this project was an eclectic building with a strong neoclassical inspiration that can be seen in the exterior cladding of its walls and the triangular pediment of its façade. Inside, large columns that adorn the interior of the building showing classical Greek and Roman styles elements of a culture that had inspired many religious constructions in the colonial period, revealing the arcades as a distinctive element. The completion of this majestic work undoubtedly stimulated the construction development of the town, they had never been before used such advanced techniques for construction in this locality,What contributed to the construction of other works in this territory, an example of this, we have The Mantecón Hotel located where today we find the local post office, a work that followed the canons of eclecticism of the late nineteenth century, also the house of the Valdés family had the aforementioned characteristics.
The Cuban colonial architecture of the 19th century had in the locality a faithful reflection of exponents that still survive as a sign of the constructive interest that the territory of Vueltabajo took, when Spain abandons the Cuban colonial position, it leaves in consolation to the south a sample of the peninsular tradition with all the influence that its architecture brings. The foundation had been basically conformed with a geometric structure of its streets (without paving), which denotes that despite the improvement and stylization of the town, the road environment suffered from the same calamities of any Spanish village.
The twentieth century for Cubans brought new airs of independence and nationalism, however this people could not get rid of the tutelage of strange doctrines that incidentally brought with them some of their most notable customs, sometimes tangible at other times at conscious levels. Already in this period a person appeared in the territory who would later become a celebrity from Consola and fueled the thought to demolish that square that brought old memories of the Spanish colonization in the territory and it was decided to build what we now have as a park in this town Despite the fact that the treasury's coffers were full, its completion in 1902-1903 was the first work built under the influence of the new architectural conceptions arrived in Cuba.Work that shows the above is the facade of the cemetery here we can see three doors in the form of masonry arches, the main door is wider than those that rise next to it, this whole set is the faithful recreation of the classic constructions of antiquity, also shows the taste and culture of the locals of those times.
The central highway entered the town along the same roads that traditionally had been done by what until then was the fundamental artery in this town on both sides of the road a perimeter to turn it into sidewalks.
There is a work in the town that constitutes a sample of neoclassicism within the eclectic current of the Cuban twentieth century: The Roberto S. Reinart loggia this work is one of the attempts to perpetuate neoclassicism in local constructions it is a masonry house and a plaque on whose front an allusion is made on a smaller scale to the works of classical Greco-Roman architecture.
The influence of North American architecture also had an influence on this territory, an example of this is a house located in the current neighborhood called number one, which is in very good condition, currently accentuating the wooden architecture, also the cock-fence and the station of railroad, there are also samples of this architecture but not in the urban perimeter we refer to the recreational houses on the farms of some wealthy owners.
We have shown how the Consolareño heritage has had a precious history that we must rescue and put at the service of all.
Conclusions
It is significant to take into account regional particularities, to draw up the policy of transformation and rescue of our tangible and intangible cultural heritage, bearers of the values that built and reaffirm our nationality, as the substrate of our culture. Process of which Fidel has said, that it is the shield and sword of the nation..
At the same time, the growth of the spiritual needs of Cubans and the increase in tourism, poses a new challenge: to train professionals whose center is community work. This guarantees, based on the knowledge of their cultural reality, an activity based on the sense of relevance and identification with the workplace, thus responding to the aspiration raised by the First Secretary of the PCC, comrade Fidel in repeated spaces.
The present investigation is inserted into the process of rescuing the cultural heritage of the Consola, which constitutes an additional investigative problem in the municipality precisely because the inhabitants of this territory need to know and live with everything that helped to form and develop our old town to the that we owe her today everything that with patience and time she bequeathed us at some point, of that small and consoling house built of yagua, guano and that had even the dirt floor which served as consolation to travelers and that we owe our current name, from there until the foundation or conversion of a great town and up to the present; all this historical past is vital for the frank knowledge of the history of our town.
This research is part of the necessary development of the study of local history, as a substantial part of the history of the country and as the foundation of the work of patriotic education and development of culture, linked to the particularities, customs and traditions of each place.
Bibliography
- Benévolo, Leonardo, History of modern architecture, t.1.2; Ediciones Revolucionarias, 1972.Carpentier, Alejo, The city of the columns; Editorial Letras Cubanas; 1982. Joaquín, Weiss, Cuban colonial architecture, Editorial Pueblo y Educación, 1982._____________, Cuban colonial roofs; Editorial Arte y Literatura, 1979.Chuate, Criss, Architectural Presentation; Ediciones Revolucionarias, 1972. Muñoz, Nelson, Museo Colonial; Editorial Oriente, 1988.Le Riverend, Julio, History of Cuba, Editorial Pueblo y Educación, 1978. Romero, Fermín, La noche Habana; Editorial Pablo de la Torriente Brau, 1992.
