The green light has been given for a new attraction on Lanzarote – or rather just offshore – with an underwater sculpture museum opening just off the coast of Playa Blanca in 2017.
The designer of this unusual installation is Jason deCaires Taylor, a British sculptor, who has already created a similar attraction in the Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park off the coast of the Caribbean island of Grenada. The idea behind this artwork is to form a man-made reef for sea creatures to live on, providing an additional focal point for local dive clubs in the future.
Three hundred sculptures will be placed underwater, with an anticipated inauguration in January 2017. The area that has been chosen for this project is in Las Coloradas in Playa Blanca, with the figures placed at between 12 and 15 metres depth and covering an approximate 400 square metres of the seabed.
Naturally enough, as the exhibit is planned in a maritime zone, permission had to be granted by the Costas Department of the Spanish Government, which has given a 50 year licence for the installation to Lanzarote’s Centres of Art, Culture and Tourism. A budget of 572,000 Euros has been agreed and the artist will take 50% of any revenue raised from merchandising associated with the museum.
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