The Garden of Acclimatization of La Orotava, known as Botanical Garden of Puerto de la Cruz, from the summer of 2023 it will have a new visitor center whose investment amounts to 2.9 million and which will turn it into a tourist enclave and leading scientist.
Its innovative design combines nature with art and pause, with a plastic and poetic language and different contents that will make it not a “usual center”, but with an attractive atmosphere that invites the visitor to think.
Thus, in the same enclosure there will be rest areas designed as areas for contemplation of the sculptural blocks. These are intended to be areas of reflection, learning and interaction thanks to the exhibition resources with which they are endowed.
Following the artistic trend of the Bauhaus, the new space will be a unique building “in which things will happen” that can be “seen, smelled and felt”, with the conviction that “another future is possible”, explained yesterday the director of Tragsa, Jesús Casas, company awarded the works.
He did so during the presentation of the project, an act attended by the president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres; the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Alicia Vanoostende; and Mayor Marco González, among other authorities present, as well as representatives of the tourism and business sectors of the municipality.
In this context, and after watching the video that shows how the facilities will look, Torres said that “there are many reasons to be happy because it is wonderful to see what will be the reality of a comprehensive project that began in 2007, which will now develop its third phase. and that it has a term of 11 months. As we always say, we will try to make it as short as possible so that it can open in the summer of 2023.”
The head of the regional Executive highlighted the “excellent design” of the future visitor center and the fact that it will be developed in a space that was ahead of time to architectural criteria that materialized years later. “I hope that during the summer of 2023 we can return and that everything we have seen today in the presentation video we can touch, smell and enjoy, because there is no turning back and there is one day less for its inauguration,” he declared.
The mayor of Porto thanked the Government of the Canary Islands for the boost it has given to the Botanical Garden so that the visitor center goes from being a promise to a reality that will turn the city “into an authentic cultural and creative ecosystem”, which aspires to become in “the capital of culture of the Canary Islands”.
For her part, Alicia Vanoostende recalled that the site was created in 1778 by a Royal Order of King Carlos III on August 17, 1788 and declared a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC) in 1994. It is visited by 250,000 people a year that make it “the historical and tourist jewel” of the municipality.
Exterior expansion works
Asked about the expansion works outside the enclosure, the regional councilor confirmed that they are being carried out in phases through the public company Gestur with funds from the General Directorate of Tourist Infrastructure. We have already done a first phase, with some small terraces and the irrigation system has been put in place to leave it ready when that area is planted. This year another phase is planned, with an investment of 300,000 euros, which will be another area of the Garden to be able to continue with the expansion.
The project contemplates large torrents of water that will converge in a large lake with a surface area of 2,640 square metres, given that water plays a fundamental role. “Everything is ready,” assured the counselor, and she hoped that it can start working together with the visitor center.
