The House of a Hundred Doors

There is no need to come from abroad to be ensnared by the architectural museum jewel that is the Valle-Iznaga Palace in Sancti Spiritus. As a Cuban visiting the city, I was captivated by its architectural majesty, its valuable collections and its legend.

The Valle Iznaga family owned estates, sugar mills and other properties and were among the richest families in the entire country. In the mid-18th Century they built this first two-story house in town.

To allow sufficient air and sun to enter, they had some one hundred openings, doors and windows, installed. To this day everyone in the city knows the museum palace as the house of a hundred doors.

As time went by the Valle Iznaga Palace became the Colonial Museum of Sancti Spiritus and many valuable collections filled its rooms. More than ten exhibition halls display the Spanish colonial furniture and decorations - paintings, tapestries, glassware and ceramics - prevailing in the 19th Century. Stained-glass windows and inner doors bestow their light and color magic on all of it.

What can I say about the furniture? The expert craftsmanship of the precious woods has allowed it to ...