The Teguise City Council approved this Thursday in Plenary to grant the posthumous recognition of Illustrious Man Gold Medal of the municipality to César Manrique (1919-1992). Within the Regulations of Honors and Distinctions of the Corporation, the Gold Medal is a recognition to reward extraordinary merits that occur in personalities, entities or corporations, both national and foreign, for having provided services to the municipality or dispensed honors to them.
"It will be an honor to officially recognize the great work and extraordinary merit of the Lanzarote artist, of international fame and recognition within the world of painting, sculpture and architecture, who carried out the great work of valuing the cultural and environmental assets of Lanzarote, and especially those of the municipality of Teguise, through tourism promotion projects based on the uniqueness of the island, which enhanced the economic and social quality of life of Lanzarote and the appreciation of the rich ancestral history of Teguise", said the mayor, Oswaldo Betancort.
From the City Council they remember that César Manrique enjoyed long summers in the family home of La Caleta de Famara from a very young age, "which influenced his extensive pictorial and photographic work." "For his artistic world, Famara, the sea and the dune deserts were a vital reference, where man traveled in search of knowledge and spiritual subsistence through nature. A tour of his vital work in the municipality of Teguise shows the arduous work of the artist to revalue ancestral environmental and historical qualities in a modern and conscious world," they point out.
In 1968, Manrique returned to Lanzarote after his stay in the United States and settled in Tahiche, where he built his residence Taro de Tahiche, where the César Manrique Foundation is currently located. In addition, the City Council recalls that the Director General of Fine Arts appointed him Delegate of Fine Arts on the Island of Lanzarote.
