The Tías City Council officially inaugurated this Monday, June 5, the sculpture designed in life by César Manrique and exhibits it in one of the main accesses to Avenida de las Playas, the main artery of access to the main tourist town of Lanzarote.
This work, which is part of the Juguetes del Viento series, created by the universal artist from Lanzarote, César Manrique, is named Róbalo, from the family of fish that inhabit the Canary waters, and will commemorate the 50th anniversary of La Tiñosa and Puerto del Carmen as a tourist destination. The 12-meter-high sculpture is located in the roundabout of Los Pocillos beach, on Avenida de las Playas, on the eastern axis of access to the town of Puerto del Carmen.
The Government group in the Tías City Council (PP and CC) "wanted this work, the first by César Manrique in the municipal district of Tías, to be linked to the symbolic date of the 50th Anniversary of Puerto del Carmen as a tourist area of the island born in the shelter of the small fishing village of La Tiñosa, which so inspired Manrique in his first years of artistic creation after his return to Lanzarote in the 60s of the last century after his journey and residence in New York", they point out from the Consistory.
The inaugural act, chosen by the Government group of Tías and its mayor, Pancho Hernández, coincided with World Environment Day. The institutional act was attended by the mayor of Tías; César Manrique Cabrera's brother, Carlos, and his nephew, also an artist, Eduardo Manrique; the president of the César Manrique Foundation (FCM), José Juan Ramírez Marrero; the director of the foundational activities of the FCM, Fernando Gómez Aguilera, as well as the councilors of the Municipal Government group.
"As mayor of Tías" - said Pancho Hernández during his speech - "I have to recognize, again and publicly, that we had total receptivity with the management team of the César Manrique Foundation, with its director of foundational activities, Fernando Gómez Aguilera, and its president, José Juan Ramírez Marrero, both present this morning at this event. Thank you very much José Juan and Fernando for making it possible for Manrique to illuminate and guide, with that beautiful Wind Toy, this strategic access on Avenida de las Playas".
The first mayor of Tías recalled that "it was on April 24, 2013, on César Manrique's birthday, when we signed and announced at the Foundation's headquarters that Tías that Puerto del Carmen would have a 12-meter-high replica of the Róbalo, that fish so characteristic of the waters that bathe the Canary Islands, and that Manrique designed for his Wind Toy series. A sculpture that this June 5, World Environment Day, we are officially inaugurating. In these 4 years since the signing of the transfer agreement and the execution of the work, the Tías City Council proposed to the Cabildo of Lanzarote, an entity represented here today by its president, Pedro San Ginés, that this sculptural work be financed within the projects of the Tourist Infrastructure Plan of Lanzarote. And so it has been. A work, which has had an investment of about 100,000 euros, which we received at the end of December last year. From the Tías City Council, our Government group, always wanted this great sculpture of César to join the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of La Tiñosa and Puerto del Carmen, and on a date of great symbolism for Lanzarote and the personal career of César Manrique".
World Environment Day
Regarding this day, the mayor highlighted "precisely, near here, next to this beach, César Manrique together with civil society warned of the course that the island was taking in those decades. A path, of which he was a great visionary, and whose message resonated with the population of the island. Today Lanzarote would have been another, perhaps, if his warnings had been taken more into account. But with the mistakes of the past, and the successes, which Lanzarote has also had, this island continues to be a world reference for sustainability. Thanks to César, Lanzarote was declared a World Biosphere Reserve in 1993. We cannot live today, anywhere on the planet - despite the fact that the main economic power in the world does not see it - that this place where we live called Planet Earth is witnessing climate change. And all of us, all of us, are necessary to correct that course as César, in another sense linked to sustainability, predicted to us".
The president of the César Manrique Foundation, José Juan Ramírez, highlighted during his speech that the location chosen by the Tías City Council for "the placement of the wind toy has been a complete success". "It is an emblematic place, near the sea from where César Manrique drew his inspiration. We see it here in the fish that represent this sculpture, where also due to its shape and design they achieve their movements with the intensity of the trade winds that are frequent here". Ramírez Marrero "thanked the initiative that the Tías City Council and its Government group had to ensure that Manrique's work was also present in this municipality. A sculpture that arrives now in a celebration of great symbolism," he said.
The installation of El Róbalo, from the Juguetes del Viento series by César Manrique, has been possible after the signing of a collaboration agreement signed in 2013 by the César Manrique Foundation and the Tías City Council, under the mandate of Pancho Hernández as mayor. The local institution proposed that its execution and construction be charged to the Tourist Infrastructure Plan of Lanzarote, channeled through the Cabildo of Lanzarote. The work and installation were completed in December of last year. Now, this June 5, Environment Day, Manrique will be united in history to the municipality of Tías (the only one in Lanzarote that until now lacked a special work by César), in the year where La Tiñosa and Puerto del Carmen celebrate 50 years, the half century that has changed the course and future of the Island as a great international tourist destination, recognized as a Biosphere Reserve since 1993.
