It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and many times it turns out, whether in photography or in video, the visual representation of what surrounds us impacts as much or more than a dissertation about it.
That was perhaps the reason for the film cameraman Barnabé (Bebo) Muñiz Guibernau (1925-2000), from Havana settled in Santiago de Cuba, was dedicated since 1973 in his home to the collection and exhibition of photographic equipment, film , Radio and television, that later would donate to inaugurate the 21 of March of 1992 the Museum of the Image, that takes its name.
Located in Calle 8, number 106, between Tres and Cinco, in Vista Alegre, of the city of Santiago de Cuba, this institution is unique of its kind in Cuba and Latin America, by treasuring an appreciable collection that recreates the history of The capture of images and the different ways to make them enduring.
Why is the radio medium included as a visual element in that site ?, perhaps an explanable question for the simple reason given by Muñiz Guibernau: "The radio with its attractive resources is able to create in the receiver sound images."
With that affirmation, the radio amateurs will assent.
In four rooms, the Museum of the Image houses valuable pieces that have served as support for artistic expressions linked to it, such as a collection of Kodak cameras, from the first manufactured by the French to the present, plus a sample of flashes, Stereoscopic displays, lenses, photometers, study and spy cameras.
Also exhibited there are cameras Bell and Howell, 35 mm and 16 mm, some of which recorded events such as the fall of dictator Gerardo Machado, the expedition of Cayo Confites, the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, mercenary invasion of Playa Giron and The October Crisis.
Likewise, pieces belonging to the famous Cuban documentarist Santiago Álvarez are conserved, among them projectors, film publishers, splicers and a moviola.
The history of Cuban radio and television also has its space in that site, which houses the first American and Japanese cameras used on our small screen, the Russian used in the 1970s and 1980s, As well as televisions of different times.
From the radio, antique reception apparatus, a collection of charcoal microphones, an acetate disc recorder and other devices are exhibited.
The institution has a cinema and video room, and a film vault in which are archived about 300 audiovisuals in support of 16 mm with varied themes, of which stand out originals and copies of the productions immortalized by Santiago Álvarez as the Noticiero ICAIC Latin American.
In addition to the ancient artifacts, a gallery of historical snapshots is noteworthy, with the presence of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, whose image and voice were captured by many of the museum's treasure troves, considered a International reference to study the future of audiovisual media.
Simply, a unique place in the city of Santiago where the visitor will see that one image, or several, can say more than a thousand words.