Color and light: bringing life back to Havana’s stained glass windows
The teacher of stained glass restoration at the School Workshop of Havana, Mirell Vázquez, talks in front of a historical stained glass door on November 7, 2023, in Havana. The magic of the union of light and colorthe art of stained glasshas flourished over the centuries in Havana, where restoration work is helping to preserve this jewel of Cuban architecture. (Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP)
In a formerly posh neighborhood of Cuba's capital, stained glass windows still sparkle in what used to be the opulent family homes of the rich.
The houses, which date mostly from Havana's 20th century heyday, are today in various states of conservation — some magnificent, others crumbling.
But bit by bit, when money and resources allow, the windows they boast are being meticulously restored by a dedicated team, subsidized by the state.
"We want to keep this art alive, it would be wonderful not to lose it," said Mirell Vazquez, who teaches stained glass restoration at the state-run Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos school in Havana, and oversees a team of five restoration professionals, all trained by her.
Vazquez has identified about 500 stained glass windows in the Vedado neighborhood that once housed the Cuban capital's most luxurious homes — many built with money from the then-flourishing sugar industry.
Most of the grand old houses no longer serve a residential purpose, having been nationalized and turned into offices or embassies.
There are a wide variety of windows on display in Havana — including some of the first colonial-style examples, in the shape of colored fans with wooden frames, which became a symbol of historic Old Havana, founded in the 16th century.
Then from the 20th century onward, the homes of the wealthy in Vedado were adorned in styles from Europe — with stained glass windows first imported from workshops in France and Spain, then made locally.