The Cabildo of Lanzarote and La Graciosa presented this Friday the architectural and museographic project for the recovery of the old Mercadillo of Arrecife, a historic building acquired by the Corporation at the beginning of the current legislature and which will be transformed into a space dedicated to interpreting and transmitting the identity of Lanzarote and La Graciosa through its heritage, landscape, culture, gastronomy, crafts, and history.
The president of the Cabildo and head of the Historical Heritage Area, Oswaldo Betancort, presented the main lines along with the architect and author of the basic restoration project, Alejandro Muñoz; the doctor in Art History Elena Pol; and the doctor in Psychology and professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid Mikel Asensio, from Interpretart.
Betancort explained that the future Mercadillo is conceived as a space from which to bring the elements that make up the island's identity closer to the citizens. “We want people to be able to know and understand Lanzarote here through our culture, our landscape, our heritage, our gastronomy, and our history. We have the responsibility to preserve these identity markers and ensure that they can be transmitted to future generations,” he pointed out.
The president also highlighted the choice of Arrecife to house this project due to its condition as an administrative, commercial, and port capital and its relationship with the island as a whole. “The Mercadillo will be a space for cultural interpretation, reflection, and learning about our DNA as a people, open to both those of us who live here and those who visit us,” he added.
Recovery of the building
The Cabildo acquired the building, located at number 14 León y Castillo street, after the Insular Government Council authorized the operation on November 19, 2024, for an amount of 2,543,044.81 euros.
The property was for decades the headquarters of the Recreational, Sports and Cultural Society La Democracia and one of the main cultural and social hubs of Arrecife, hosting film screenings, theater, conferences, carnivals, and adult literacy activities.
The architectural project was contracted in October 2025 and aims to recover the historical configuration and image of the building, eliminating later interventions that have altered its original characteristics. The economic forecast for this intervention is around 3.5 million euros, to which the investment corresponding to the museographic project will be added.
The basic project has already been submitted to the Arrecife City Council to continue with its administrative processing. Betancort indicated that, as the corresponding permits are obtained, progress will be made in the tenders and the necessary financing to carry out the planned actions.
A space to tell Lanzarote
The museographic project, contracted in April 2026 and financed by SPEL, proposes a multipurpose space in which ethnography, the agricultural world, traditional housing, crafts, gastronomy, the landscape, and the social evolution of Lanzarote will be some of the main axes of the tour.
Betancort especially thanked the work carried out by the Historical Heritage Service throughout the process, from the acquisition of the property to the contracting of the architectural and museographic projects.
“Lanzarote needs spaces from which to understand its transformation and transmit what identifies us. Our greatest value to compete in the world is our identity, and this project will allow us to preserve it, explain it, and share it,” concluded the president.
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