Santa Lucia, Matthews explained to the students, gouged out her eyes in her devotion to the Lord and depictions of eyes were built somewhere on the building. Fascinated, the group explored the walls and halls of the church in search of the hidden eyes.
During her stay, she also visited eight other colonial churches and marveled at both the similarities and differences that characterized religious architecture in the Americas.
“I was very excited about going to Cuba," she says. “This was an opportunity that could not be passed up.”
During her visit, she noted how Cuban colonial architecture differed from other structures in the Americas as builders adapted techniques to the climate and geology of the island. Some features included the use of entwined branches to line interior walls—called cujes—a tradition that came from Africa, sloped ceilings to allow for rain runoff, and the use of wooden structures covered by masonry to combat the effects of strong earthquakes that are typical in the Oriente region.
The churches also exhibited architectural influences from Spain's multicultural medieval past, including intricately carved wooden ceilings with geometric patterns based on Islamic art forms.
“It was extraordinary to see this,” she says. “Cuba was not marginal at all in the Spanish colonial world. It was an entry point to the colonies and as such was influenced by many traditions and all the diverse groups that visited this early colonial capital and port city.”
- BARBARA GUTIERREZ / UM News
