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The vital importance of Old Havana lies, among other things, in the enormous concentration of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage that it preserves; and not only of local history, which is abundant, but also extraordinary exponents of national history, now in the collections of the museum enclosures, now in the events that took place in its alleys or in shady buildings.
The Historic Center presents itself today as a place of opportunity, thanks to the theater of operations that the Historian’s Office has forged in more than three decades of sleepless nights and fruitful work, materialized by an ever-growing army of men and women of thought and action. In this way, the new scenario that is emerging requires, as never before, order and planning, since there are many challenges that are added to those already faced in the previous phases.

The Havana Historian’s Office (OHcH) initiated the recovery of the Historic Center in 1981 with the first Five Year Restoration Plan, a process that was severely compromised by the fall of the Eastern European socialist bloc in the early 1990s. The Cuban state has shown its political will to continue the restoration work by declaring the Priority Area for Conservation and delegating powers to the OHcH. It determined that the institution would lead a complete development process driven by economic decentralization, unprecedented in the country. In its 214 hectares, the Historic Center comprises two distinctly different areas: the old city within the walls and the belt of what it was the “Las Murallas” neighborhood.

In the urban morphology of the first, the system of dividing walls, narrow streets and a relatively regular grid, with a tendency to orthogonality, reinforced by the continuity of the façade lines, and by the presence of squares and squares associated with religious buildings or buildings. public nature; a marked urban complex due to the uniformity of the parcel, the heights of the buildings, the succession of openings and massifs and the ramp of peaks, balconies and cornices. The 3,500 buildings that make up the building complex respond to different eras and styles; highlighting the representative of the colonial period (28% of the total) and a dominant group, which arose in the first republican decades, in which the formal neoclassical expression prevails (56%). The public civil architecture inserted in its main streets brings together magnificent examples of accommodation, administrative and financial structures. The religious buildings, temples, convents and fortifications that strongly mark the urban landscape stand out, especially in the old intramura area.

The Office of the Historian of the City of Havana has delegated functions of local administration and some economic powers in order to preserve the heritage of the Historic Center and improve the living conditions of its inhabitants. It has to support a wide network of museums and cultural centers, and takes on some social services and the administration of the territory, the bulk of the construction and maintenance of the buildings and public areas of the Historic Center. For its responsible contributions in the fields of architecture, urban planning, society, culture and the environment, the rehabilitation work of the Historic Center of Havana has earned, in the last two decades, prizes and awards in national competitions. and international organizations organized by prestigious institutions.

CURRENT AND FUTURE PROJECTS:
• Creation of the Training Center for Restoration and Design – ReDi “Taller Arch. Roberto Gottardi”
• Restoration and recovery of the Convent of Santa Clara
• Restoration of the Convent of “Las Teresas”
• Palace of the “Condes de Jaruco”
• Recovery project of the “Los Picos” warehouses.
• Multi-family housing program supported by subsidized loans