San Juan Statue

A few years ago we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico and I saw this statue of a man holding a small building. Naturally, I had to have a photo of it and find out more about the man and what was up with that little building. The man depicted is Ricardo Alegría who is a famous archaeologist. No, that’s not a typo - he’s not an architect but an archaeologist. Turns out, he was also responsible for the renovation and restoration of Old San Juan. He literally held the city’s future in his hands and fought to keep it's historic character in tack. Due to his efforts to save this architectural treasure, Old San Juan was declared a "Historical World Treasure."

"When I started the restoration of Old San Juan, people said everything should be torn down and that we should make it a ‘little New York.’ But that was because of their ignorance about the historic importance of the city to both Puerto Rico and the U.S. - Ricardo Alegría"