A Wonder in Spain – Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences
By Clara Sabell
This futuristic confection of a city looks as though it must have been beamed down to earth from somewhere else entirely! Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences is a truly ambitious, space age cultural complex that aims not only to entertain and stimulate the minds of its visitors, but to fill people with enthusiasm for science, technology, nature, and art. This city within a city, most of it designed by the distinguished Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava, is composed of five great buildings in the midst of a space of greenery and clear water, which mirrors the architecture. Work on the sixth building, The Ágora (which will give the complex a multifunctional space) has just begun. The complex is set in the dried-up river bed of the Turia, midway between the coastal district of Nazaret and the old city of Valencia. The architect is proud that “people can walk through and around the main buildings without paying. It is a city to be discovered by promenading.” There is, indeed, room to promenade more than seven miles around the complex!
There are 5 main elements in the City of Arts and Sciences:
· The Marine Park (Oceanográfico) is Europe’s largest, and contains sections dedicated to each marine zone on earth. Plan to spend at least 3 hours marveling at a collection of thousands of species of marine flora and fauna, including dolphins and sharks. You could easily spend an entire day in this underwater city, which was designed by the late Spanish architect Felix Candela. Children love it!
· The Opera House (Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia), which contains 4 distinct auditoriums for different opera, theatre, and music shows, has exceptional acoustics and has become one of Europe’s most important opera halls. Its mission is to promote a passion for dance, theatre, and classical music among a wide cross section of society, including children.