Timanfaya National Park, 01.09.24

Einmaliger Besuch des Timanfaya National Parks

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timanfaya_Natio…

El Diablo Restaurant – Timanfaya

Following the strategy of the Cabildo de Lanzarote to highlight and preserve the most emblematic spaces of the island, in 1970 the Timanfaya National Park was intervened, one of the most impressive volcanic sites in the world. César Manrique, accompanied by his usual team of collaborators (Eduardo Cáceres, Jesús Soto or Luis Morales, among others), directed the creation of the El Diablo restaurant and the Ruta de los Volcanes, taking up three basic premises in his work: integration of the work in nature, adaptation of the place for tourism with scrupulous respect for the environment and use of contemporary artistic languages.

The volcanic eruptions that devastated Lanzarote during the 18th century have an overwhelming landscape power today. The Timanfaya National Park offers a geological and aesthetic spectacle that is as overwhelming as it is dazzling, where the apotheotic beauty of the lava and craters is compared time and again with imaginary views of the Moon or Mars. Until the time of the intervention, Timanfaya had barely had contact with the tourist industry, although there was already a small viewing point in the area. The prompt action of the Cabildo served to control the area just before the explosion of visitors and gave further value to its declaration as a National Park in 1974. From Manrique's talent for sculpture and design came the emblem of the Park, a schematic devil in dark tones but with an ironic air that has become a symbol of the island itself.

Given the delicacy of the space, the Volcano Route was designed to offer a complete sample of Timanfaya to visitors without damaging the habitat. The narrow and carefully maintained road that runs through the heart of the Park was designed to cause the least physical and visual impact, allowing the most significant areas to be seen but only through the Cabildo's guide and bus service. In this way, the exhibition of nature is compatible with environmental conservation.

On the Islote del Hilario, the El Diablo restaurant was built, which is inserted in a circular one-story building whose main façade is made up of a large glass window that allows the astonishing panoramic view of the extensive lava fields to be seen. Inside, the usual Manriquean decorative exuberance limits its actions to concentrate its effects and to harmonize with the ascetic and overwhelming volcanic environment. A paradigmatic example of this attitude is the so-called "Dead Garden", a small glassed-in space where a dry trunk and the skeleton of a dromedary recall the dramatic symbolism of the place where we are. In the bar area, there are details of the furniture that recall pop aesthetics, with original ornamental twists on common utensils such as frying pans, which serve as lamps.

Next to the restaurant, two curved walls give access to the bathrooms and a third, closed with a decapitated dome, contains an oven in which natural heat is used to cook food. The Islote del Hilario is where the geothermal activity of the subsoil is best perceived, since at only 15 meters deep the temperature exceeds 600 degrees. This forced the use of innovative technical solutions in the construction but also allowed the creation of unique attractions for visitors.

The circular shapes, the purity of the lines and the visual strength of the large walls of perfectly carved volcanic stone reinforce the geological and ritual character of the intervention, while the whole achieves a balance between fusion with the landscape and its own spatial prominence. The overall reading once again demonstrates that Manrique had a special intuition for creating unique and eloquent environments by combining architecture, plastic arts and landscaping.Read more