Lanzarote, 7 May. (askanews) – An inseparable combination between Lanzarote, the third largest island of the Canary Islands, and Cesar Manrique, painter, sculptor, multidisciplinary architect, who exploited the riches and beauties of the territory in an artistic way. After the demonstrations that took place in the Canary Islands to ask for more sustainable and attentive tourism and not mass tourism, Manrique’s message becomes more relevant than ever. As Alfredo Diaz, of the Pedagogical Department of the Cesar Manrique Foundation, explains to askanews: “And It’s clear that everyone talks about Cesar Manrique and Lanzarote. Lanzarote is Cesar Manrique and Cesar Manrique is Lanzarote. There is a Lanzatore before Cesar Manrique and one after his work.
This is evident. Cesar Manrique’s message is very timely, he said enough to a disproportionate growth in tourism, which did not take into account the size of the island. Lanzarote has limited capacity and Manrique had already said this 35 years ago. Unfortunately his message was not listened to. “.” The memory I have of Cesar Manrique is basically his joy of living, a person with a lot of vitality. He had a great passion that he communicated very well. “The idea of creating a foundation aims to prevent his thoughts and work from falling on deaf ears. Cesar Manrique wanted all this to be apolitical and ours is an independent foundation. We do not receive public money, we live thanks to the people who come to visit us”. You cannot visit Lanzarote without visiting the places created by Cesar Manrique: itineraries in his footsteps that go from the Cactus Garden to the Jameos dell’agua, the artist’s first work, a sort of underground water passage , but also the Mirador del Rio, the architectural complex of the Casa-Museo del Campesino (farmer) and the Foundation dedicated to Manrique. Explains Paloma Olivier, director of the Princesa de Yaiza Resort in Playa Blanca: “There are itineraries between the volcanoes to follow in the footsteps of Cesar Manrique who left his masterpieces here and tried to integrate the nature present on the island with the tourist resources and this legacy has been maintained over time and distinguishes Lanzarote from other islands. Lanzarote is a unique island”. Text and images by Serena Sartini Editing by Carla Brandolini.
