Atados al Mar

The eBOOK TEXT, PICTURE CAPTIONS AND AUDIO ARE PROVIDED IN BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH.


Atados al Mar (Tied to the Sea) is a photographic study of the 87 buildings on the seafront overlooking the famous Malecon Avenue in Havana, Cuba. Many of the architecturally interesting early 20th century buildings are badly dilapidated because of their age and exposed position to the ocean. Despite the condition of their homes, the Habaneros still continue to live in some of the buildings.


The photographs were taken as the restoration work to rescue some of the historical architecture is starting and new 21st century designs are being constructed on the avenue. The government of Centro Habana and the Office of the Historian of the City have since decided that 28 of the 87 buildings shown in this book are beyond repair and will be demolished. 'Atados al Mar' is a final record of a past era in the history of the Malecon as it rebuilds for a new future.


The series of 14 large format full colour panoramas are each connected to the next at the street intersections that run from the avenue into the heart of the city. The front and rear covers of 'Atados al Mar' show this entire section of the Malecon Avenue from Paseo de Marti del Prado to Calle Belascoain as a single extraordinary image.


With an accompanying essay by the Cuban journalist, Fidel Rendón Matienzo Matienzo, who was born in Havana and has been a habanero, a resident of the city, for over 50 years. Fidel has a degree in journalism from the University of Havana and since 1998 has been a member of the Chair of the Cuban Union of Journalists and a Director of the National Cuban Press Agency (AIN) in Havana City. In January 2008, he was elected as a delegate to the Provincial People's Power Assembly in Havana.