CITY OF ARTS & CIENCE (history part 1)

The City of Arts and Sciences, is a cultural and architectural complex located in the old riverbed of Turia in Valencia.
Designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava of international prestige and Felix Candela.
On 16 April 1998 the complex was inaugurated by opening doors from the L'Hemisferic (eye-shaped building, which contains a 3D cinema and planetarium), followed in time the other buildings until the inauguration of the Agora the October 31, 2009.


Today it is one of the biggest attractions of the city.

In 2007 it was one of the winners of the National Treasury organized by Cadena COPE (Spanish radio station) and Antena 3 (national television).

The original project began in 1989 when the professor of history at the University of Valencia José Maria López Piñeiro, raised the need for a science museum in the old riverbed of Turia. The then President of the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian government) Joan Lerma (from Spanish Socialist Party PSOE) request to create a team to develop a project with educational purpose. That revolved around a half complex cultural, tourist half.

2 years after a project was presented under the name City of Science, which would include a telecommunications tower height of 370 meters (would have been the third highest in the world at that time), a planetarium and a science museum, estimated at 150 million Euros.

picture of the view of the City of Arts & Cience from the Miguelete, taken from the Wikipedia