Optical Connections: Guardian of the glasses

It is, no doubt, a description that curators of optical museums around the world might feel aptly applicable to them but, in fact, the job title ‘Guardian of the Glasses’ refers to Aleeda Rodriguez Padrasa, guardian of the (one pair of) glasses, not a whole collection. The spectacles in question are not even those of a real person; they belong to a statue. A statue of a musician who had once been a hate-figure of the host country’s revolutionary regime.

Located within the tree-lined streets and gardens of the residential neighbourhood of Vedado, to the east of the more crowded buildings of Habana Vieja (old Havana) on the island of Cuba, sits Parque John Lennon. Overlooked by elegant mansions dating back to pre-revolutionary times, near the south-east corner of the park at 17th and 6th streets, there is an elegant bench where a bronze statue of John Lennon sits. On a marble slab near his feet is inscribed ‘Dirás que soy un soñador pero no soy el único, John Lennon’ (‘You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one,’ John Lennon), a line from his famous song, Imagine. And yet, the Beatles’ music had, for many years, been banned in Cuba.