One of the heritage buildings of unavoidable visit for those who yearn to know the life and legacy of the revolutionary Rubén Martínez Villena, is his birthplace, turned into a museum and one of the five national monuments of the province of Artemisa, declared in 1978.
The house is located in the historic center of the municipality of Alquízar, number 8427, on the former San Agustín street, today, 91 avenue; its constructive splendor dates back to 1875. The simple wooden house is structured with the influence of Spanish colonial architecture, basically Andalusian, although it has components from the tropical area. As significant elements of the property stand out the plant with the shape of an inverted L, two corridors, an incomplete gallery, and the interior patio with garden and backyard.
The construction of the Martínez Villena family had several owners who introduced modifications to its structure. It was reopened after an arduous and meticulous restoration process, due to the multiple uses it acquired over the years. The house, recovered with its original splendor, colonial profiles and elegant details, was inaugurated as Rubén Martínez Villena's Casa Natal Museo, on January 16, 1976, coinciding with the 77th anniversary of the death of the poet and revolutionary from Alquizar.
The House-Museum has three exhibition rooms, a reading room, a documentation center, and a store of museum goods. The historical institution hoards collections of personal objects of Villena, among them: his typewriter, weapons, manuscripts related to his revolutionary work, and his poems, a significant sample of the correspondence of the intellectual, and notes on meetings, documents of the Trade Union of Agricultural workers, as well as photographs, furniture, ornaments and other belongings of the members of the family. The entity also provides bibliographic reference services on the first three decades of the 20th century.
In the museum, the Colloquium "Presence of José Martí in the life and work of Rubén Martínez Villena" is organized every year; and biennially, the Rubén Martínez Villena Illustrated Poetry Contest is held, and the Rubén Martínez Villena scientific event, his time and his contemporaries.
Undoubtedly, the national history and the ideology of the renowned intellectual Rubén Martínez Villena converge in a museum of perfect harmony with the Cuban cultural and social development.
