Fifty years after the eruption of the Capelinhos Volcano, in the island of Faial, the "Americas" that populated the dreams of those who were forced to leave – due to the consequences of the phenomenon -, these "Americas", now, can already be found in the Azores, thanks to the development of the Region.
The president of the Regional Government guarantees it, for whom “what is really necessary is to stay here, rejuvenating an anxious land in the progress and which is achieving it at rhythms superior to the profits of the Country and of the European Union. It is this journey that animates us and that is intensified in circumstances like that which we are living in this opportunity”.
And, last night, the circumstances were those of Carlos César being presiding at the inauguration ceremony of the Capelinhos Volcano Interpretation Centre, a work for seven million euros that, as he said, is one of the symbols of different Azores that are being built, Azores “constant creators of new jobs, land of renewed or accomplished hopes, place for modernity and for new economical activities, place of attention and care before the inequalities that happen suddenly in the societies in quick processes of development”.
Affirming that the new Centre constitutes a tribute to the inhabitants of Faial, particularly to those that suffered more with the consequences of the Volcano - and it, simultaneously, extends the evidence and the observation of so many scientists and scholars - the president of the Government enhanced the great quality of the infrastructure.
“From the three-dimensional movies, interactive and artistic models, informative panels, computers that explain the formation of the volcanoes and the evolution of our archipelago, all the technological tools were used to explain complex phenomena and the history of this place, beginning in the original big-bang, passing by the formation of the planet, moving then for our condition till the current days. This structure is a powerful time machine that transports us from the past to the present, in an accessible way, so that we more easily see the existence”, said Carlos César.
However, he added, the new Centre is not an isolated initiative, being inserted, before, in a general policy of appreciation of the natural environment and of pedagogy and of scientific diffusion.
As part of this policy there were built, among others, infrastructures as the Gruta das Torres, the Casa da Montanha in Pico, the Centre of Environmental and Cultural Interpretation of the Island of Corvo or the Visitation Centre of the Botanical Garden of Faial. Soon, as a matter of fact, there will be ready the Virtual Aquarium and the Casa dos Dabney, in the island of Faial, and the Centres of Environmental Interpretation of Furna do Enxofre, in Graciosa, of Fajã de Santo Cristo, in São Jorge, of Gruta do Carvão, in São Miguel, and it of the Factory of Boqueirão, in the island of Flores.
“The enjoyment and interpretation of the environment and of the natural scenery of the Azores, before distant and incomprehensible, are more and more within reach of the knowledge of those that live here or of those that visit us. We know that it is only possible to protect, appreciate and use with sustainability what is understood and, also for this reason, these structures are of crucial importance for the quality of the development of the Azores”, it said, finishing, the president of the Government.
The new infrastructure, inaugurated yesterday, is composed of several rooms arranged from a pole that symbolizes the eruption of a volcano, in which there are offered to the visitor informations of scientific character on the phenomenon and where there are shown exhibitions connected with volcanism, with enhancement for those that present several types of rocks and of materials gathered in eruptions.
Marking the inauguration, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea promoted a show, in charge of French actors who, in an acrobatic way, used the Capelinhos lighthouse - totally recuperated as part of the work of the Interpretation Centre, in which it is integrated - for an air dance that had many applauses from the hundreds of people in the audience in the place.