The Lanzarote Cabildo unveils plans for centenary celebrations of César Manrique’s birth by announcing a process whereby many official events will be designed by locals.

The Lanzarote Cabildo unveils plans for centenary celebrations of César Manrique’s birth by announcing a process whereby many official events will be designed by locals.

Islanders will play a leading role in deciding how this important event should be commemorated as they are invited to put forward their celebration ideas for inclusion in the official programme of events via the website www.manrique100.org

The Lanzarote Cabildo is aiming to devise a programme of activities that will commemorate the centenary of César Manrique’s birth which falls on 24th April 2019. Apart from the day itself, the idea is that Lanzarote’s most treasured son is at the centre of the majority of events throughout 2019.

Aware, as it is, that Manrique’s legacy belongs to the people of Lanzarote, the Cabildo is adamant that it should be the people who play a key part in coming up with ideas for how this special day should be celebrated. Everyone, therefore, is invited to make their proposals and present their ideas via the website created by the Cabildo www.manrique100.org which will be up and running from June until September.

The Cabildo is proud to celebrate the life of this world-renowned artist born in Lanzarote 99 years ago for it was his genius that was responsible for the island’s reinvention in the 1960s and 70s. It was a time that saw the arrival of the first water desalination plant and the first passenger flight, and with it came a new economic sector on the island – tourism. There is no doubt that tourism would bring about a radical change in the island’s face and fortunes, but it was Manrique who helped us to understand the process of change that occurred on our fragile, difficult and out-of-the-way island during that “César Century”.

Manrique’s incredible imagination when it came to Lanzarote is probably one of the most convincing and ambitious artistic expressions in 20th century Spain, for he understood the landscape, made real his dreams and created experiences that placed lava and volcanoes at the centre of many people’s dreams and consciousness.

Source: Cabildo de Lanzarote