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New Museum To Open At Castillo San Gabriel

Friday March 4, 2011

New Museum To Open At Castillo San Gabriel

The Castillo de San Gabriel - located just off the seafront in the centre of Arrecife - will soon be home to a new permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of Lanzarote´s capital. Which will replace the current exhibition there of archaeological artifacts from the island´s original inhabitants, the Guanche.

The Castillo´s pivotal position in Arrecife makes the castle the ideal place to develop a new attraction for visiting tourists and underlines the importance this defensive outpost had when the city was under attack from marauding invaders in centuries past. Part of the planned permanent exhibition will focus on the history of the building and its construction, as well as the gradual growth of the port into the island´s capital. A status it assumed from Teguise in 1852.

The first stage in the plan involves rehabilitating the existing structure without in any way changing the building´s external features. The second phase will see the adaptation of the environment around the castle to create an open-air museum area. Whilst the final phase will lead to the creation of several different exhibition spaces within the building to house a standing display about Arrecife and it´s context within the island´s history.

The project will be undertaken by the Ayuntamiento of Arrecife in conjunction with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Canarian University Foundation. Currently there is no published timetable to indicate when the new museum will be open to the public.  But this will however add yet another attraction for tourists when they are sightseeing in Lanzarote.

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