The Finca Vigia - Home of Ernest Hemmingway 1938-1961

Cuba / Ciudad de la Habana / Havanna /
Finca Vigía (Spanish for "Lookout Farm") was the home of Ernest Hemingway in San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, and now houses a museum.

The house was built in 1886 on a hill near Havana by Catalan architect Miguel Pascula y Baguer. Hemingway lived in the house from 1939 to 1961. It was at Finca Vigía that he wrote most of The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

The home, claimed to be in danger of collapse by the U.S. National Trust for Historic Preservation, was restored by the Cuban government and reopened to tourists in 2007. Even so, it has been listed as one of the 11 most-endangered historic sites, despite being outside the U.S. Also, it is on the World Monuments Fund's biennial list of "100 most endangered sites". Significant disputes and controversies have arisen over the condition of the house and its contents, although researchers who have visited the estate return with consistent claims that the Cuban government, while lacking funding from the US, has responsibly maintained the house, contents, wooden boat Pilar, and the grounds since the Revolution.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finca_Vigía
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   23°4'4"N   82°17'45"W

Comments

  • Hemingway was smart...he got out before the full force of the commie bastards got going.
This article was last modified 13 years ago