Evelynn Hernández, provincial director of heritage in Holguín. (Photo: Mavel Ponce de León)
By: Mavel Ponce de León Hernández*
The eclectic style of the building built 97 years ago stands out from the layout of rectilinear streets and semicircular arches in the city of Holguín, 735.5 kilometers from the Cuban capital, where the Carlos de la Torre y Huerta Provincial Museum of Natural Sciences is located. founded on May 31, 1969.
The former high school from the colonial era “is the most visited museum in the province of Holguín, as the statistics reflect in years,” says Evelyn Hernández, provincial director of heritage in an exclusive dialogue with Radio Habana Cuba.
-How many species make up the collections?
-“Currently more than 1,800 specimens are exhibited, with 14.6% in natural observation…”
-Among these, which ones are most relevant?
-” The species in the collections include the Almiki and others unique in the country such as the Polimitas snails, which are only found in this museum in Cuba. At the same time there are pieces of birds and arachnids that are used to carry out important research on Cuba and the Caribbean” he stated.
-About the new technologies that are used in the world, What do you plan for the modernization of Carlos de la Torre y Huerta?
-“The museum has an APK based on augmented reality with fifteen exponents accessible from mobile phones. Also a virtual tour.
“We are working on new technologies to view with QR codes and even with a museum with a new virtual tour in a project with the Cuban Computer and Audiovisual Media Company -Cinesoft- in Santiago de Cuba, which will have interactive games and televisions.”
-The preservation of collections is of high cost in the world. How do they do it with the challenges of an economic blockade of the United States on Cuba?
-“The human resource of the institution is essential for conservation. Light monitoring, relative humidity, and effects from gases emanating from cars, among other aspects, are carried out. Also, dust that may exist in the pieces is eliminated in order to carry out preventive conservation and avoid intervention,” the directive stated.
In the Carlos del la Torre collections, there are pieces donated by the Cuban Army General, Raúl Castro Ruz, and Vilma Espin, eternal president of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), both donated unique species brought from their work visits to various regions of the world.
Among its preserved pieces, the fossil fish, the royal carpenter, stands out, very difficult to find and its history is still being studied. They have the largest collection of mollusks in the world.
They also mean the smallest scorpions in the world, in the exponents. Among the minerals, the Agates donated by Dr. José Agustín García Castañeda (1902-1982) stand out, a prominent figure in science in Holguín and a great promoter of culture and museums, a lawyer by profession.
The Carlos de la Torre y Huerta Museum, located on Maceo Street between Luz and Caballero, opens its doors from Tuesday to Saturday from nine in the morning.
*Radio Havana Cuba correspondent in Holguín
