SANTANDER, 18 (EUROPE PRESS)
The Rock Art Center (CAR) of Cantabria, located in Puente Viesgo and which will be inaugurated at the end of 2022, will be composed of three articulated spaces around a semi-open patio, built with pure materials such as concrete and stone, because the building intends to “blend in” with the environment since it “cannot compete” with the content.
The CAR will have three areas, administrative, reception and exhibition – including a permanent exhibition on the Palaeolithic art of Cantabria and its ten World Heritage caves – arranged around a central patio that will allow interaction with the hillside in the one that is located, in addition to giving a more intimate character to a building that is distinguished by its “flexibility”.
The characteristics of this future construction located “in a privileged location” and that will act “as a filter” between the caves of Monte Castillo and Puente Viesgo have been presented today at a press conference in which the architects responsible for the project, Miguel Huelga e Iria de la Peña, from Sukunfuku Estudio, as well as the vice president of Cantabria, Pablo Zuloaga, and the director of the Prehistoric Caves of Cantabria, Roberto Ontañón.
The construction company has already started the siting works and the works, with a budget of four million euros, have an execution period of 18 months, with the intention of opening the equipment to the public at the end of 2022. In this sense, This week the museum project was put out to tender with a budget of more than one million euros.
With this equipment, the Government intends to create “a first-rate cultural asset” and “put the Pasiegos Valleys on the map”, with an element that acts as a “dynamizer” of the rural world and generates opportunities “for the entire regional territory.” Zuloaga has said.
For its part, Ontañón has highlighted that the CAR, together with the Altamira Museum and the new headquarters of the Museum of Prehistory and Archeology of Cantabria (MUPAC) will put Cantabria “where it had to be, at the forefront in the conservation and dissemination of the rock art “, also configuring an” archaeological tourism network “.
In this regard, he explained that the CAR and the MUPAC will be “complementary” since the former will disseminate Palaeolithic art and the latter will house one of the most important collections of furniture art from this period in the world.
Thus, the Puente Viesgo center will have a permanent exhibition of 50 square meters with the motto ‘Cantabria, origin of art’ that will be “open, accessible and interactive”, aimed both at bringing the paleolithic and the “geeks” closer to the public. from this period, said Ontañón, pointing out that it will also collect research, information and “sensations” about the ten cave caves in Cantabria that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The person also in charge of MUPAC has stressed that the “heritage specialty” of Cantabria is rock art and this center, which is now moving forward after many years of work, aims to help “interpret and socialize” this heritage. CHARACTERISTICS
The architect responsible for the project has explained the design of the center has been conditioned by the topography of the 18,000 square meter plot where it will be located, with a large slope that will act as a “natural bleacher”, with which it will “interact”, and an unevenness 17 meters.
Huelga has indicated that the building “will be discovered” as the visitor arrives because it will be “a surprise within the orography”. Thus, it will not stand out in height because “it tries to go unnoticed, to blend in”, an idea that is also present in the chosen materials, such as the gray limestone roof of Cantabria, which will gradually rust and become covered with mosses.
The intention of the building, made of concrete, is to maintain continuity with the landscape, inside and outside, and also in the materials.
The central access will be through the reception atrium, which will offer a complete view. On one side there will be a multipurpose room and then the work area and on the other the exhibition area. VALUATION OF ZULOAGA
For his part, Zuloaga stressed that this project “which has taken years” seeks to “channel” the cultural visitors who come to Cantabria, which is why it is a “cultural and tourist investment” as part of the Government’s commitment to make of these areas an “engine” for the regional economy in general and for the Valles Pasiegos in particular.
The vice president has underlined that culture is “a priority” of the Executive and is within the new model of sustainable development that seeks to stop the loss of population.
In this sense, he explained that with this center he wants to “break the idea that the cultural visit focuses only on Santander” and “energize” the rural world, which is precisely where Palaeolithic art is found.
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