The new House of Volcanoes opened its doors to the public on Sunday afternoon during an event that brought together a hundred people interested in learning about the most outstanding aspects of this museum space, the "only one in the country due to its innovative nature, its characteristics and its contents", according to the scientific community present.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and of the Board of Directors of the Tourist Centers, María Dolores Corujo, was responsible for inaugurating the House of Volcanoes, "a jewel that we are incorporating into the catalog of Tourist Centers. This new informative space," Corujo explained, "combines tradition and technology, original equipment and cutting-edge resources, to create a set of emotions that add value and richness to the Jameos del Agua experience."
Corujo said she felt "excited to bring a new dimension to Jameos del Agua and the Tourist Centers", and "grateful to those who have been involved in making this dream a reality, especially the scientists Alejandro Martínez, Javier Lario, Jesús Martínez, Juana Vegas and Inés Galindo, without forgetting the pioneers who launched the House of Volcanoes 40 years ago, Jesús Soto, Vicente Araña, Ramón Ortiz, Alicia García and so many others, with the invaluable help of our staff."
She also wanted to give special thanks to the GPY Arquitectos studio, "responsible for an impressive space conceived as a tube of light", to PlayMedia, "for the design and production of some surprising content", and to the César Manrique Foundation, "which has designed the Manrique Room, a room of art, nature and life that symbolizes the transforming force that unleashed his work on the island and that, finally, allows us to have the figure of César Manrique properly displayed in the Tourist Centers."
Corujo highlighted the aesthetics of a space that is "innovative and avant-garde, designed and created to facilitate access to all the knowledge accumulated around volcanology in a didactic, entertaining and modern way."
"The new House of Volcanoes responds to the philosophy that inspired the creation of the Tourist Centers," Corujo explained. "To show where we live, who we are and how we do things. Half a century later, they continue to be the great reference of the historical, artistic, cultural and natural heritage of Lanzarote, a publicly owned resource that has no equal in the world, the leisure offer that many tourist destinations demand to qualify and increase spending per person and the response to our model of the future, which involves not growing in number of beds but increasing and diversifying the complementary leisure offer following the model of the Tourist Centers and the art-nature binomial so that it is sustainable."
"The new House of Volcanoes," Corujo concluded, "is another example of the management model that we have returned to the Tourist Centers based on the conservation and maintenance of Manrique's Work, quality services, consideration and respect for workers, and the improvement of the gastronomic offer."
The president congratulated the CEO of the Entity for the work done and recalled, finally, that "the resident population will be able to access Jameos del Agua free of charge to visit the new House of Volcanoes for the next six months starting tomorrow Monday."
For his part, the CEO of the Tourist Centers, Benjamín Perdomo, reiterated his gratitude "to all the people involved" and explained the details of a "process that has been long and complex, but with a result that will surprise."
The new House of Volcanoes
The new House of Volcanoes opens its doors after an investment of nearly 4 million euros, of which almost half, 1,990,000 euros, have been allocated to museum equipment thanks to a subsidy from the Government of the Canary Islands channeled through the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
The new space has ten rooms that are articulated around three main thematic axes: the geological formation process of the volcanic tube of La Corona and the transformation carried out in Jameos del Agua by the artist César Manrique; the work developed in the House of Volcanoes and the contents of Geopark Lanzarote – Chinijo Archipelago, and 'Planetary Analogues', a vision of Mars on Earth.
After the inauguration, the president, the CEO of the Entity and the attendees of the event entered a space that attracts attention for its futuristic appearance to discover the contents that the new House of Volcanoes hides.
On the ground floor of the Museum, Corujo and Perdomo visited the Laboratory room, which collects the work of the space dedicated to listening and analyzing the heartbeats of the planet, and the Rosario Lunar room, which houses the collection of stones and minerals donated by Lunar to the island.
On the upper floor, they discovered the César Manrique room, which shows a part of the life, work and thought of the genius who transformed Jameos del Agua; the Volcanic Tube of La Corona room; the Volcanic Tube Recreation room, which has surprising and innovative technological equipment; the Atlantic Tunnel room, by the hand of researchers Alejandro Martínez and Javier Lario; the room about the history of the House of Volcanoes, with Jaime Arranz and Orlando Hernández; the rooms about Geopark Lanzarote – Chinijo Archipelago and its natural heritage, with Elena Mateo, and the rooms about Planetary Analogues by the hand of the scientist and disseminator Jesús Martínez Frías.
Visitors were able to experience and interact with the technological material available at the new House of Volcanoes such as videomapping, virtual reality glasses and an augmented reality photocall, and stroll through the historic Hall of Mirrors, an installation that pays tribute to the artist Jesús Soto.
The opening hours of the House of Volcanoes are the same as those of Jameos del Agua, that is, from Monday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.
