The foundation of the city of Santa María del Rosario took place on January 25th 1733, after the authorisation granted by the King Philip V at the request of the first Count of Casa Bayona, who wanted to build this religious and civil complex at the expense of the demolition of a former sugar mill. Santa María del Rosario was the third Condal village in Cuba, after Trinidad and Holguín. The square was built following the pattern of an arcaded square from the colonial period, with a rectangular base and one-story buildings, which is the heart of the regulatory system of the city, formed by a grid town planning with perpendicular and parallel streets creating a block.
The church of Rosario was built between 1760 and 1766, directed by the architect José Perera. It was christened and sacred by the Bishop of Cuba Espada y Landa in 1812, and instituted as the Cathedral of Campus in Cuba. Its inner part still has wealth movable properties, such as canvases with religious paintings and the group of baroque alterpieces and lateral altars, and the pulpit, built with precious wooden carvings.
The restoration project was developed by Caja Madrid Foundation, and it was planned following a criteria of minimum intervention, trying to avoid the damages and consolidations which could alter or deform the perception of the founding core of Santa María del Rosario. The planned interventions included urgent consolidations in the factories, protective outdoor drains to avoid the capillary moisture, the improvement of the system of evacuating rainwaters, and the desinsectation and consolidation of the linked movable properties. In the square they restored the urban environment trying to find a maintenance of the constructive approach of the buildings in the square, restoring the roofings, keeping the original ironworks and carpentries, and repairing the facilities from the most deteriorated buildings. Finally, a mainteinance plan was draft for the users of the buildings, so they could keep regular and simple works of control, cleaning and repairs in order to support and continue, under appropriate conditions, this extraordinary historical complex.
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