Almansa Park, one of the iconic spaces of the municipality of San Javier, has reopened its doors in a big way, after two and a half years of works to remodel and give a new purpose to the large urban park that San Javier has. «Life is once again passing through Almansa Park,» said the mayor, José Miguel Luengo today, who inaugurated the park and the new winter auditorium together with the president of the Autonomous Community, Fernando López Miras.
The 32,000 square metres of the park open up to the urban fabric with which it merges after this remodelling which also reinforces its cultural value, the mayor recalled. «If the park was already a cultural icon because of the summer festivals, today it is getting a new boost with this new theatre just 50 metres from the summer auditorium». The new theatre, with 500 seats, is connected by a roofed atrium to a multi-purpose building, the billiards club and the cafeteria that will serve the park.
The remodelling project, the work of the Valencian architects Miguel Martínez and Pau Batalla, winners of the national ideas competition organised by the City Council with the collaboration of the Official College of Architects of the Region of Murcia, has eliminated the concrete and opted for a softer, draining soil, as well as an increase in the existing tree mass with 250 new specimens. «We removed concrete and put more trees,» said the architect Pau Batalla, during his speech at the inauguration, along with his colleague Miguel Martinez, who thanked «the reception and understanding that his project has received from the beginning in San Javier».
The inauguration took place in the winter auditorium which celebrated its first full house with all 500 seats occupied by representatives of local groups and associations and neighbours, who were able to enjoy the first concert hosted by the theatre, starring the AGA Music Unit and the soprano Pilar Jurado. Previously, the round of speeches began with the president of the Architects’ Association, María José Peñalver, who defended the competition for ideas as «the best way to give the best solution to a project on equal terms». The mayor, José Miguel Luengo and the president, Fernando López Miras, who had previously unveiled the plaque commemorating «a historic day for San Javier», thanks to a project «with which San Javier not only grows but makes more Region».
López Miras pointed out that San Javier, «which was already known as a cultural enclave during the summer, now has a first class cultural infrastructure that will help to deseasonalise culture and tourism», as did the Mayor of San Javier, who guaranteed a year-round cultural programme in the winter auditorium. Luengo stressed that the new park «fits everyone as has been demonstrated today» and recalled that it will be a secure space under video surveillance and closed at night. The mayor thanked the Official College of Architects of Murcia for their collaboration in the national ideas competition, and underlined the importance of the European funds, which have allowed this remodelling and other works and actions in the municipality.
Simultaneously, outside the park, the most daring children took their first dip in the ground fountain which cooled the high temperatures of the day, while an intense programme of activities for all ages continued to be held in different parts of the park. The programme included the presence of children’s characters from television and cinema directing the children, exhibitions, theatre with excerpts from classics by the local San Javier theatre group, music, a skate festival, workshops, activities from different municipal programmes and shows such as The Lion King and the aerial «Peter Pan», by the Puja group, to close the programme in the afternoon.
The day began with the unveiling of the sculpture of the Greek muse of theatre, Melpomene, the work of sculptor Juan José Quirós. The life-size bronze sculpture presides over the Avenida Aviación Española, at the junction of the streets Andrés Baquero and Calderón de la Barca. The San Javier Symphonic Band and the municipal dance workshop accompanied the unveiling of the sculpture which came to life in the form of the actress Esperanza Clares, who in the name of Melpomene claimed that theatre is the projection and consolation of the human being. «Here I forged a house», she said in relation to the San Javier Theatre Festival, which is 53 years old, and to whose honour the sculpture, inspired by the goddess Cybele, is dedicated, as Quirós explained. The Councillor for Culture and Director of the Festival, David Martínez and the Mayor, José Miguel Luengo dedicated their words to the memory of the Festival, so deeply rooted precisely in the Almansa Park, which today opens a new stage.
