He then takes questions, poses for snapshots, examines a restoration plan for the Havana Capitol-offering his expert opinion about work on the dome-before dashing off with his minder to a high-level government meeting. Standing before a plaque, Leal orates off the cuff for 45 minutes about the biblio-hero Zayas, a rhetorical tour de force that includes fond personal anecdotes, philosophical musings on “the importance of memory” and flirtatious exchanges that make the audience collapse into helpless laughter. In his hectic round of duties, he has come to honor one of Cuba’s countless obscure intellectual champions-a certain Alfredo Zayas Méndez, who founded this archive 80 years ago, an exalted act in a nation with the highest level of education in Latin America.

In fact, Leal is credited with almost single-handedly bringing Old Havana from the brink of ruin to its current status as the most ravishing and vibrant architectural enclave in the Western Hemisphere.ĭeftly dodging well-wishers, Leal ducks into the Historical Library, where some 50 female workers line up to kiss him on the cheek and offer flustered greetings. Eusebio Leal is the official historian of the city of Havana, a regal-sounding position that brings with it enormous influence and exposure-he starred for many years in his own TV show where he explored Old Havana’s streets-and he is as far from the cliché of the dusty, isolated academic as it is possible to get. Perhaps only on this island obsessed with its operatic past could a historian become a celebrity on a par with a Clooney or DiCaprio.

Although none of the foreigners lolling beneath the banyan trees and royal palms recognize him, a ripple of excitement passes through the Cubans, who nudge each other, smile and stare. On a sweltering morning in Old Havana, a courtly figure in a crisp gray guayabera shirt weaves through the Plaza de Armas, the city’s Spanish colonial heart, trying not to attract attention.

Old havana cuban