The general administrator of the government commercial bank, Banco de Reservas, Samuel Pereyra announced work would begin in February 2023 to deliver a major cultural center to the city of Santiago. Santiago is the second largest city in the Dominican Republic.
The goal is to rescue the four-level emblematic building of the former Hotel Mercedes in Santiago city center. The building will be fitted for the Museum of Art of Santiago and the Banreservas Cultural Center for the central Cibao region.
“It is a source of pride for Banreservas to have acquired this hotel to form part of Santiago’s heritage,” said the official. The hotel has been abandoned for nearly 40 years.
The Santiago Art Museum will house the collection of valuable works owned by the Customs Agency (DGA).
Both the Santiago Art Museum and the Banreservas Cultural Center will serve for the promotion of culture and social development in the region. An observation deck will be added to the roof of the cultural-center-to-be.
The first phase of the work will be carried out by the firm Consultores & Asesores Profesionales (CAP), coordinated by cultural expert Rafael Emilio Yunén. Yunen had served as the first director of the Centro Leon cultural center in Santiago. He will work closely with Myrna Guerrero, an expert in the management of cultural institutions. Guerrero has been in charge of the Bellapart Museum in Santo Domingo for years. Together they will head the efforts to create the cultural center at the landmark former Hotel Mercedes in Santiago City.
Yunén said that they are preparing the guidelines to be taken into account so that the new facilities of the Hotel Mercedes can be intervened according to their heritage value and the socio-territorial context of the Cibao region.
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21 December 2022