Have been many years of promises, of conflicts, but also of deterioration and abandonment waiting for works that never arrived. Last July all that was left behind, and the Viera y Clavijo Cultural Park immersed itself in what will be its rebirth as one of the main cultural spaces of the city, thanks an investment of 11.8 million. The project designed by architect Fernando menis has begun to take shape with the help of the company Sandoswinner of the work, which has already begun with one of the most important works, and which is none other than ensuring the foundation of the main building of Viera y Clavijo.
Since last July, and after a specialized company emptied the building of its belongings (it must be remembered that it was occupied for many years), the workers have set to work to expose the foundations before proceeding to its reinforcement. As the Councilor for Works of Santa Cruz, Javier Rivero, explains, “after the perimeter enclosure work, in these first months we have made progress in the removal of belongings, clothing and other types of waste that were in the interior area of Viera and Clavijo , and we begin with the phase of interior demolition and first excavations for the foundation testing, remembering that one of the keys to this project is structural reinforcement.”
At the same time, work has been going on on the outer wall of the park, in the part that faces the Rambla, a wall that is being dismantled, since Menis’s project offers a clear continuity between the Rambla and the park. “This exterior area will also be one of the spaces in which demolitions will be carried out in the coming weeks, highlighting the wall towards the Rambla. We hope that the 2026 Three Kings parade will take place along a Rambla with the park space fully integrated with the environment.”
As far as the recovery of the building is concerned, Menis has put on paper the construction of four new vertical communication cores to solve the accessibility problem presented by the central building. In the semi-basement of the south wing, a new space is added, as a warehouse/depot in connection with the new freight elevator. This allows accessibility to all floors of the building.
The aim is to resolve pedestrian connections with the environment, so that access on foot to the space is favored. This means that the exterior walls will be eliminated, giving continuity to the transition between the park and the Rambla, as already noted. In addition, the property will have a walkable roof that will be conditioned for outdoor activities, with magnificent views of the immediate surroundings of the city, and will also involve the recovery of the surroundings of this Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC). .
The mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, does not hide his satisfaction that the works on Viera and Clavijo have begun, a commitment he made upon his arrival to the Mayor’s Office. “After so many years fighting to unblock a file that was complex, that had a lack of financing, that at first we had the incomprehension of the Government of the Canary Islands about what it had to assume, after so much time, the truth is that we are fully satisfied to see that the works begin and continue at a good pace until the work is completed.”
If everything goes on time, as Bermúdez indicates, the forecast is that by the end of 2025 they will be finished, and if there is sufficient consensus it is possible that the solution will be undertaken, or at least left on track with the Pérez Minik Theater that for now has been left out of this intervention. “With the Pérez Minik we have to seek an agreement with the Cabildo on what to do with it and that, without a doubt, we must seek an agreement to have a single criterion from the insular area of Historical Heritage as well as from the Urban Planning Management of the City Council” , points out the mayor, who adds that “I am convinced that we will achieve it to also be able to include this rehabilitation in that area.”
And while the Urban Planning Management of Santa Cruz is not in favor of demolishing the Pérez Minik, from the Cabildo, the technicians understand that it is an addition to the complex so its conservation is not necessary, so a new one could be created stage space in the place now occupied by the theater.
Regarding the future uses of this property, the mayor, and after the failed attempt to have it become the headquarters of the Rodin Museum, has stated on several occasions that his intention is to initiate contacts before the end of this year. appropriate with the different cultural groups to define the uses of the Viera once rehabilitated. “The idea is to be able to specify possible uses in a dozen proposals and then convene a citizen participation procedure in which these ideas can be voted on,” he noted.
The truth is that making the Viera y Clavijo Cultural Park a benchmark will require a lot of consensus, and not only from the world of culture, but from all citizens so that the project that is now being carried out reaches its maximum expression.
On the outside of the building, new vegetation compatible with the existing vegetation will be incorporated, thus avoiding any type of deterioration in the current vegetation of the park.
Specifically, the aim is to create a forest of ceibas, like the one that already exists in the garden, and which has been joined by the one that was planted last July as a symbolic form of the beginning of the transformation of Viera and Clavijo.
It will be in 2025, when 123 years have passed since the construction of the building that takes its name from the botanist José Viera y Clavijo, when a new life begins for the park, which will see it as the original project of the architect Mariano Estanga and the engineer José Rodrigo Vallabriga , becomes that of Fernando Menis. It must be remembered that it was the headquarters of the Colegio de la Asunción, an old neo-Gothic church founded by Belgian nuns, later transformed into the first school for women in Tenerife, which operated until 1978. It was declared BIC in 1986.
