| The Valley of the Sugar Mills, located near Trinidad, is | | | | architectural values survives the sugar refinery San |
| one of the most photographed landscapes in Cuba, | | | | Isidro de los Destiladeros, considered the most |
| as well as a must-see place in every tour made in | | | | complete sugar complex in the valley because it still |
| that village. The monumental value of the 65 sites | | | | has, besides the house and its bell tower, numerous |
| that form the valley increases the interest to visit | | | | archaeological exponents of its productive process. |
| this place, where important vestiges of the island's | | | | The famous Manaca Iznaga Tower is the symbol of |
| sugar colonization still survive. | | | | the valley and of the power of the local Alejo |
| During the 18th and late 19th century, the rising | | | | María Del Carmen Iznaga y Borrel; the tower |
| national and foreign middle class who had earned their | | | | stands to scarce a mile away from the house building |
| money from sugar production settled in this vast | | | | of the sugar refinery Buena Vista, a house that |
| valley; and there, one of the most important | | | | defies time. Less ostentatious than the ones owned |
| commercial and financial sugar empires in Cuba and | | | | by the rich magnates, this house building is, however, |
| Latin America was promoted. In its fertile lands | | | | a great example of the construction that the middle |
| between 75,000 and 140,000 sugar cane arrobas per | | | | class used; everlasting and beautiful materials that can |
| caballeria (a caballeria is 32 acres) were produced in | | | | be seen today in the eleven house buildings that are |
| 1790. Hundreds of slaves died while working on the | | | | still preserved. |
| magnificent sugar mills and the opulent constructions | | | | Along with the archaeological remains from the |
| that were built in the middle of the exuberant natural | | | | historical sugar refineries, the natural beauty of the |
| environment. | | | | valleys La Pastora, Santa Rosa, San Luis, and the |
| The regal mansion of the slave-owner Mariano Borrel | | | | plains of Agabama Valley can conquer anyone. The |
| still astonishes because of its colossal columns, its | | | | rivers that run through these valleys form ideal places |
| arcades, its roof, and the elegance of its | | | | for recreation and add considerably to the aesthetics |
| well-preserved interiors holding frescos with exotic | | | | of the landscape. |
| landscapes and friezes set out by the Italian artist | | | | For all these reasons, the Sugar Mill Valley, together |
| Daniel Dall Aglio, the same artist who decorated the | | | | with the Old Quarters of Trinidad, was declared by |
| Cantero Palace in the city of Trinidad. The Farmhouse | | | | UNESCO Cultural Patrimony of Humanity in 1988. In |
| Guaimaro also forms part of this rich architectonic | | | | parallel, the World Monument Fund, that searches and |
| patrimony; the estate owner, Guaimaro became | | | | promotes financing for endangered patrimonial and |
| famous because of the world record established in | | | | historical places, has joined the incentives for |
| 1827 in his farmhouse after producing 943 tons of | | | | recovering or reconstructing the remains which |
| sugar. | | | | perpetuate life in the Sugar Mill Valley. |
| In this area of unquestionable historical and | | | | |