Contents
General Information about the Major General Vicente Garcia Memorial
The Memorial to Major General Vicente Garcia is one of the emblematic sites regarding the collection of texts and personal history of this prestigious Mambi chief.
It was inaugurated on November 14th, 1987 and is located where it was the birthplace of Vicente Garcia in the Las Tunas Province, right on the street that now bears his name.
This building was declared a National Monument in 1996 for its tradition and history.
It was in this house where the family of this brave man was locked and in which two of his young children died in difficult conditions, in the arms of his wife Doña Brigida Zaldivar, who preferred the family sacrifice before encouraging her husband to surrender.
The Major General Vicente Garcia Memorial and its Constructive Aspects
The house that functions as the Major General Vicente Garcia Memorial was built in 1800.
It was made with masonry and tiles and its value was estimated at two thousand pesos in gold.
On September 1876, after attacking Las Tunas City of and submitting it for three days, General Garcia ordered to reduce it to ashes.
In this way, he started the fire at his own home, in a holocaust that was a sacrifice to national independence. In late 1876 he began to rebuild the village, which was again burned and destroyed on August 1897 with the Mambi attack led by Calixto Garcia.
The house was rebuilt in 1919 and kept it with colonial U-shaped plan with the large inner courtyard, the canopies supported by columns and windows with dust.
Instead, the facade swapped for eclecticism with fluted columns, the Corinthian capitals and major balustrades. In the 40s the strut and the width are expanded.
In late 1985, a profound restoration work began to rescue the historic site that was the homebirth of Las Tunas patriot.
To this an activity hall was added and the inside architecture was rescued. Thus a trace of the original floor of the property can be seen today.
Relevant Information on the Major General Vicente Garcia Memorial
By 1985 the house where today lies the Major General Vicente Garcia Memorial is delivered to the Provincial Directorate of Culture.
Then, the restoration work to rescue the historic site that gave birth to the patriot begins. The main objective was to turn it into a museum that would delve into the most significant facets of life called Leon de Santa Rita (Saint Rita Lion).
However, there are also a deserved tribute to other men who fought for Cuban emancipatory deeds.
The museum has four exhibition rooms dedicated to Major General Vicente Garcia, his generals, his most important fights, attacked towns, the ranks gave to him during the Ten Years’ War and its presence in Venezuela where he died, victim of betrayal in 1886.
