The Dominican chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) has published a calendar listing 12 key Dominican historical monuments in urgent need of conservation efforts. The organization has complained that the government has not made available the budgets needed to preserve these landmarks. Recently, the organization also protested that the government in the past has channeled monument conservation funds through the Office of Supervisory Engineering Works of the Presidency (OISOE), instead of releasing these to local Icomos experts. Icomos is critical of OISOE carrying out restoration of the Duarte House in the Colonial City.
Edwin Espinal Hernández, president of the Dominican chapter of Icomos, calls for implementing programs that provide sufficient resources towards the conservation of key monuments and sites all throughout the nation. He says that the Ministry of Culture in 2018 will have a budget of RD$2.48 billion (around US$51 million) of which only RD$102 million (around US$2 million) has been allotted for conservation works of the historic sites. The calendar seeks to create awareness of the importance of conservation.
Monuments shown in the calendar are:
January: Santa Bárbara Church, a monument dating to the 16th century located in the Colonial City. It is where country forefather Juan Pablo Duarte was baptized in 1813.
February: The Morey building in San Pedro de Macorís that was built in 1915 and that shows damages in its structure.
March: Wooden houses in Sánchez, Samaná province in state of abandon and disrepair.
April: San Francisco Monastery ruins located in the Colonial City Santo Domingo. Construction dates back to the 15th century when Nicolas de Ovando was the governor of the island.
May: Pomier Caves in San Cristóbal, a collection of 55 caverns, of which 49 are affected by mining exploitation nearby.
June: Casa Grande de Palavé, sugar mill ruins from the 16th century located in Hato Nuevo, west of Santo Domingo.
July: Hotel Mercedes in Santiago.
August: Site of the foundation of the Villa de Santo Domingo in 1498 by Christopher Columbus’ brother, Bartholomew Columbus. This is marked by an exit to the plumbing system for the old city.
September: Abandoned house No. 26 at Benito Monción street, only survivor of the 6 September 1863 fire that destroyed several period wooden houses in the city center of Santiago.
October: Villa Isabela in Puerto Plata where Christopher Columbus built his only home on the island in 1495, three years after the discovery of the island for Spain.
November: Teatro Agua y Luz built in 1955 by Carlos Buigas from Barcelona, Spain.
December: Villa de la Concepción, founded during the second trip of Columbus in 1494, that is regarded as the first urban center in the Americas.
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Acento
8 January 2018
