A Chapel in Revolution Square
A view of the construction. Photo Ramy/PS/PW
By Aurelio Pedroso and Manuel Alberto Ramy
February 29, 2012
The base of José Martí’s monument in Havana is teeming with over fifty men from different construction brigades that are building a design approved by Havana’s Archbishopric for an outdoor “chapel” where Pope Benedict XVI will say Mass on the morning of March 28.
With the event less than a month away, carpenters, welders, electricians and gardeners are extremely busy following a schedule for reaching its objective in mid March.
Architect Luis Pérez Coello, who has practiced his profession for more than 40 years, is in charge of the project. Pérez Coello also took part in the preparation of this same square on the occasion of John Paul II’s memorable visit to Cuba in 1998.
“We are right on schedule,” said Pérez Coello, “with no delays and no logistic setbacks. At present we are working in several directions: the main platform, the one for the orchestra and the choir, and the stairway.”
The head architect and the different brigades are part of the Enterprise of Metallic Productions, a company of the Ministry of Construction’s GCon Group.
In the Mass, the pope will be facing the square, a large esplanade where sometimes over one million people have gathered. The gigantic image of the Virgin of Charity will be to the Pope’s right, on the façade of the José Martí National Library.
The images of Commanders Ernesto Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos that are displayed respectively on the façades of the Interior and Communications ministries will remain in place. “Their presence there is eternal”, said Pérez Coello.
According to sources related to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Santiago de Cuba on March 27 and his subsequent travel to the Cuban capital, as many as 1 million people could attend the Pope’s Mass at Revolution Square.
Meanwhile, the Archbishopric of Havana’s media department is editing several videos on Pope Benedict XVI. Reliable sources claim that the videos will be broadcast by some (and perhaps all) Cuban TV channels. The materials will inform Cubans about the Pope, who is not very well known here after only six years as the head of the Catholic Church.
On the other hand, the Way of the Cross is taking place in plazas close by to several parishes of the capital. “It is a manner of living Lent,” said one of the participants, which began last week on Ash Wednesday. It is also an indirect way of announcing the Pope’s visit.
The religious event is taking place in public plazas for the first time in 50 years.
In the photo at the right, architect Luis Pérez Coello and co-author Aurelio Pedroso.
Progreso Semanal/Weekly authorizes the reproduction of all or part of the articles by our journalists as long as the source and author are identified.
