The origins of the Centros de Arte, Cultura y Turismo (Centres of Art, Culture and Tourism) can be traced back to 1966. After a three-year stay in New York, César Manrique (1919-1992) - one of the pioneers of Spain's abstract movement - returned definitively to Lanzarote, the island of his birth, where the development of tourism was in its infancy.
 
Conscious of the particular originality of the island's landscapes, he promoted an ambitious creative project for intervention in the territory, the main focus of which was the protection and conservation of the environment.
 
Working together with an enthusiastic team of collaborators, the initial successes quickly followed: Jameos del Agua (1966), Monumento al Campesino (1968), Restaurante El Diablo (1970), Mirador del Río (1973), Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo (MIAC - International Museum of Modern Art -1976) and Jardín de Cactus (The Cactus Garden - 1990).

The Collaborators

A great part of the success of the Centres of Art, Culture and Tourism is owed as much to the creative personality of César Manrique as to the undeniable work and enthusiasm of a team of people who knew how to commit to the island's future.
 
Strongly linked to the figure of César Manrique, was one of his closest collaborators, Jesús Soto who, influenced by Manrique's contagious enthusiasm and commitment, created a series of works which completed the network of Centres of Art, Culture and Tourism: for instance, La Cueva de los Verdes (1964) and the Ruta de los Volcanes at Timanfaya.
 

Without doubt, the economic and social progress made by Lanzarote over the last 40 years cannot be understood without paying due attention to those model tourist initiatives, which allowed the island to transform itself into an international reference point in the field of sustainable development. On 6th October 1993, Lanzarote was declared a "Biosphere Reserve" by UNESCO within the scope of its MAB (Man and Biosphere) Programme.