Alicia García Santana presents us with her new, very erudite, but simply and beautifully laid out book, which is accompanied by Julio Larramendi and Carlos Garcia’s excellent photographs. Over the three chapters of Volume I of The Spanish Models of the Cuban House, the author examines the legacy of different types of dwellings throughout history: from Muslim houses, continuing with those built in classical Christian antiquity, to Mudéjar style homes.
The chapters that make up this book should be understood as part of a more comprehensive work on the Cuban house of the colonial period. This first volume focuses on the Spanish model that serves as a reference to the Cuban model: the courtyard house.
Whether the reader is a specialist or simply interested in the subject, this is a valuable, erudite and beautifully illustrated book that will allow traveling unexplored or scarcely divulged paths, and to acquire new knowledge, not only about houses, but also about other types of constructions that defined periods, contexts and lifestyles.
