The Lanzarote Digital Memory project of the Data Center requests the collaboration of those who preserve old images of the old Tourist Inn of the island, the current building of the National University of Distance Education (UNED).
“We want to preserve the photographic memories of the building and also enrich the Digital Memory project, which today offers the largest digital documentation service on the history of Lanzarote,” says the Councilor of the Data Center, Myriam Barros.
In order to preserve the visual heritage of this emblematic building in the center of Arrecife, the Cabildo requests the participation of all those who preserve, in paper, negative or digital format, photos and videos of the old Lanzarote Tourist Inn in any of the times and uses of the building during the 20th century.
Those who have images can write to the email datos1@cabildodelanzarote.com or contact the Cabildo Data Center through the telephone 928 81 01 00 (ext 3006).
The original material received will be returned to its owner once digitized. In addition, a copy in digital format will be given free of charge as a gesture for having collaborated in the initiative. The photographs ceded may be viewed on the project website Lanzarote Digital Memory.
History of the building
The building, inaugurated on June 1, 1950, was the first to be built on the island for tourist purposes. It is a building of “neo-Canarian” or “regionalist” style and was the work of the Tenerife architect Marrero Regalado. During the two decades that it was in operation as accommodation, it underwent several expansions. Inside, the Lanzarote artist César Manrique made several murals in the old cafeteria and in the dining room of the tourist establishment that today house the UNED library and the Aula Magna of the Center.
As an accommodation establishment, the Tourist Inn was closed in 1970. After some small modifications, the building housed the EGB School La Marina from 1974 to 1979. Already in 1980 it became the headquarters on the island of the associated center of the National University of Distance Education (UNED). In addition, in recent years it has housed organizations such as the Tourist Board, the Municipal Library of Arrecife (today the Municipal University Library) and has been the headquarters of groups, sports federations and associations.
Currently the building is the headquarters of the UNED in Lanzarote that offers higher studies (32 degrees, 76 Masters and 17 micro-degrees); language studies; access courses to higher education; the university for seniors —UNED Sénior—; university extension courses and permanent training for the citizens of the Island.
The paradors in Spain and the Canary Islands
The parador hotels of Spain began in 1928 with the inauguration of the first of them in the Sierra de Gredos (Ávila). They were of governmental initiative and their objective was to promote tourism in areas where private investment did not arrive and had conditions to attract tourism.
In the Canary Islands, the first Parador was inaugurated in 1945 in the Cruz de Tejeda in Gran Canaria. Later, the one in Arrecife, in Lanzarote, would be opened in 1950. They would be followed by those of Las Cañadas del Teide in Tenerife (1960), Santa Cruz de La Palma (1966), Fuerteventura (1968), La Gomera (1972) and El Hierro (1976).
Almost all of those in the Canary Islands are still in operation as accommodation establishments, except for the one in Fuerteventura, which closed to the public in 2013 and was transferred to become later (2017) the Hotel Escuela El Mirador training center, and the one in Lanzarote, which, as mentioned above, was closed in 1970.
Memory of Lanzarote reaches 19,000 records
As for the Lanzarote Digital Memory project, which was born as a public digital documentation service, it has been growing over the years, currently with more than 19,000 records, including images, documents, chronologies and statistics.
Through a daily work of digitization, documentary emptying and metadata management, after analysis and treatment of historical documentation, the web has been increasing its contents on the documentary, historical, cultural and scientific heritage produced in or about the island, with the aim of contributing to its research and public knowledge.
The development of Memoria de Lanzarote is being possible thanks to the support of organizations and people who collaborate in different ways and who, in many cases, transfer private material so that, through its digitization, all citizens can access it.
In addition, many of these contents are being transformed into temporary exhibitions that take place in La Casa Amarilla, which is managed by the Data Center of the Cabildo de Lanzarote.
