Large 18th century mural painting discovered in Bayamo
• The work of art, 47 square meters in size, was found by restoration workers behind the altar of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Chapel, in that eastern Cuban city

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ALBERTO D. PEREZ—Special for Granma International—

A unique artistic discovery has injected renewed interest in the rich history of Bayamo, the capital of Cuba’s southeastern province of Granma, the cradle of the country’s independence movement.

The first indications of the earliest non-indigenous settlements date back to the early 16th century. In 1516, an earthquake destroyed the local church and survivors rebuilt it, as they were also fostering cattle-raising, the sugar industry and agricultural food production.

During the mid-18th century, 250 years later, Bayamo’s historic district revolved around its church, the city hall and a plaza, which was ringed by the opulent homes of the region’s top patricians. One of them was Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a rich landowner who held libertarian ideas.

Fed up with the colonial system’s oppression, Carlos Manuel on October 10, 1868 shouted "Independence or Death!" and freed his slaves, many of whom joined the incipient insurgent forces that would later comprise Cuba’s Liberation Army.

One year later, when large contingents of colonial troops were threatening Bayamo, the city’s patriots decided to burn down the city, so that the enemy would capture nothing but ashes.

The fire destroyed a large part of the small city, including the Parish Church. The flames spared only one of the chapels – that dedicated to Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows) or "La Dolorosa," consecrated on April 24, 1740.

That chapel’s Baroque-style altar, located only 40 centimeters from the sanctuary’s back wall, is covered in 24-carat gold leaf. It is 6.71 meters across at the widest point and almost 9 meters in height. The roof is decorated in a very Cuban way, with images of tropical fruits from the Bayamo region: bananas, pineapples, cashew fruit and avocadoes.

Many years later, in 2002, a structural flaw was detected in the roof, and ecclesiastical authorities decided to begin capital restoration. When they raised the gabled roof, it led to the discovery. Workers were impressed: painted on the wall, blackened with smoke, appears a mural that covers the entire space and depicts a Biblical passage: the Passion of Christ. It is the only painting of its type that has endured from the 18th century in all of Cuba. Experts have determined that the mural is 47 meters square.

For many years, Bayamo’s oral tradition affirmed that a large painting existed behind the altar, but it was the restoration work that allowed those versions to be confirmed.

After that, the ecclesiastical authorities had to decide: to show the painting or the altar. Submitting the dilemma to experts, it was decided to preserve the altar in its place and to exhibit a reproduction of the painting on another of the Church walls. A team of Italian experts went to Bayamo and were able to photograph the finding in its true splendor.

The reconstruction of the altar and the chapel is a project led by the Bayamo diocese. Substantial technical and financial support is also being contributed by local authorities, represented by the Heritage and Preservation Office, together with the UN Development Program (UNDP), via its initiative for decentralized local development (PDHL/Cuba), the University of Florence in Italy and the Rome Cultural Assets Department.

Roberto Roldós, general coordinator of the project, commented to Granma International regarding the artistic value of the altar and the mural painting, and said they would always be at the disposition of the people of Bayamo and visitors. He also praised the technical, professional and human qualities of the visiting experts.

Local architect Rafael Rodríguez, head technician on the project, confirmed that the chapel is one of the seven wonders of the region’s architecture.

Susan McDade, permanent representative of UNDP in Cuba, paid a visit to the project in April during a tour of some of the many development projects that the institution is supporting in the country’s eastern region.