The Dome of the Cuban National Capitol

Abstract

ABSTRACT The National Capitol of Cuba was built between 1926 and 1929, with very short completion terms for the technical-construction means of that time. The historic-technological article describes its dome’s bearing structure and it analyzes the constructive method used in the central part of this urban symbol. The analysis begins from a very rigorous study of the original plans, on-site visits made at the beginning of its rehabilitation, historic photographs belonging to the Ministry of Public Works and the revision of the published texts and photographs in The Capitol Book, of which there are only two physical copies in the premises of the Havana City Historian’s Office and in the Cuban Ministry of Culture. 1 1 Five copies of the book are available in US University Libraries (Harvard Library, University of Florida, green Library of the Florida International University, University of Miami, University of Kansas, University of California, Riverside). The so-called Capitol Book (El Libro del Capitolio) was written by Emeterio S. Santovenia, in (1933). Its real title is: República de Cuba. Capitolio. Other recent publications about the Capitol of Havana include: Aniceto Ramos, Rolando (1998). El Capitolio de La Habana. Ed. José Martí. Vázquez García, Humberto. (2006) Historia, aventuras y leyendas del brillante del Capitolio. Ed. Boloña, La Habana Vieja, Cuba. Publicaciones de la Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad. Colección Raíces (Reedición de 1949). Pujols, Rolando; García Ortíz, Teresa. (1998). Guía de El Capitolio. Archivo Centro Capitolio de La Habana. Com-Relieve: Editorial Escudo de Oro. Hartman, Joseph. (2019) Dictator’s Dreamscape: How Architecture and Vision Built Machado’s Cuba and Invented Modern Havana. University of Pittsburgh Press. Mestre Martí, M.; Jiménez Vicario, P.M.; Ródenas López, M.A. (2019). La construcción del Capitolio de La Habana. Informes de la Construcción, 71(556): e319. https://doi.org/10.3989/ic.66826 The article makes known the technical and constructive outstanding points, used at that time for the implementation of the dome and it unmasks its internal structure, which is extremely complicated. The text is accompanied by several axonometries that facilitate its graphical understanding.