The City of Arts and Sciences – Travel to 23rd Century
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Everyone has seen Baroque, Renaissance, Gothic...how much of it can you see before it all starts looking same but different. But here is a new thought: we have just come back from a trip where we thoroughly enjoyed 23rd century architecture… that’s something different, isn’t it?
The City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia is an enormous futuristic leisure complex designed by the renowned superstar of futuristic architecture, Santiago Calatrava. Calatrava. It lies in the Turia gardens – a river bed which was transformed into 9 km of lush greenery, following the diversion of the river course after a particularly bad flood in 1950s. It is truly a city within a city – once you are here you leave Valencia, you find yourself on the grounds of some distant space base. Huge constructions of white frameworks and glass, in most curious shapes, are surrounded by clear blue open water reservoirs and designer lawns.
The City of Arts and Sciences is composed of five elements. The flagship of the complex – Palau de les Arts - is 70 metres high (an average 20-25 storey building) and in the shape of a giant eye, an awe-inspiring prototype of alien Big Brother. Behind the Palau, in the blue vastness of water, lies the Hemispheric – a smaller glass-flaked dome with sides that slide open, covering with its framework a perfect white ball. Then comes the Museum of Sciences – a giant intermesh of frames with claws and thorns sticking out of it in tidy rows. Those last two structures are bordered by L’Umbracle – a tube of a futuristic greenhouse with a tropical promenade inside and rows of decorative ceramic vents all along it. Last comes the Oceanographic – a complex of smaller structures that loosely resemble giant seashells, grouped around and across a water reservoir.
As a matter of fact, a sixth structure is in planning, which is why the area is still not totally clear of construction work. It will be an auditorium for fairs and social events, roughly speaking a high dome.
As you might have noticed, the City of Arts and Sciences is more than just a pretty face. The Palau has more than just futuristic looks – it also holds cutting-edge futuristic acoustics and is quickly becoming one of the most prestigious venues for the opera world. The Museum of Sciences is the biggest science museum in Spain and is totally fascinating in its interactivity: everything inside is to be pulled, pushed, twisted, touched, experimented with. The Oceanographic has the largest collection of marine fauna in Europe and a state-of-the-art ambience where you get sharks swimming right over your head. The bulk of the complex is actually underground (or, rather, underwater), while the buildings serve as entry points, infrastructure containers and some also display surface ecosystems. And the Hemispheric shows some of the most amazing 3D movies. All very affordable too, plus in many languages.
In addition, Valencia makes full use of the City of Arts and Sciences for various public events – from New Year celebrations to music festivals. The incredible light shows here match the architecture and make it a simply unforgettable experience.
When you walk around the City of Arts and Sciences your fantasy runs wild. This is what the Earth might look like in a couple of centuries. This can also easily be a base somewhere on a distant planet.
However, those fantasies are not even nearly as wild as what you start seeing when you know one curious fact about Calatrava. The architect bases his designs on skeletons – both human and animal.
What are these creatures whose remains you see on this intergalactic graveyard? The Oceanographic must be what it first appears as – a handful of mollusk shells. God forbid coming across those mollusks though, because either of them could easily swallow a truck. The Museum of Sciences, with its tubular shape and rows of short claws at regular intervals, turns into a half-ribcage thrown on the ground. At 220m length and 50m high, which creature would have such a ribcage, and which creature has broken it up into halves? The Hemispheric resembles a shell of some gigantic turtle-like creature or a giant bug and the Palau… the Palau is most definitely a skull, albeit from such a strange creature that it is hard to imagine what it would look like.
Visiting the City of Arts and Sciences is a thoroughly satisfying experience for any type of traveler without exception. That most luring human craving, the "never seen before" factor hits you with so much force that the crater of the impact will remain in your memory for a very long time, whoever you are.
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For more information on the City of Arts and Sciences see Valencia Travel Information - an independent resource on travelling in Valencia, Spain
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