El Almacén, ten years since reopening: how Arrecife got its cultural centre back

There was a time when culture in Arrecife had no home. In 2009 the island cultural centre El Almacén — created on César Manrique's initiative and by then running for thirty-five years — closed its doors. Around the same time the capital's Casa de la Cultura closed too.

Two venues gone at once, in a city that did not have many. The gap was felt across the board, but above all in the visual arts: the rooms where work was shown simply disappeared.

The farewell was meant to be temporary. Refurbishment and permits, however, dragged on for seven years — long enough for people to start fearing the reopening would never come. It came in September 2016: ten years ago this month.

What it is now

El Almacén is once again the place in Arrecife where you see what does not turn up elsewhere — exhibitions, cinema, talks, concerts in the courtyard. One detail says a good deal: when the capital's cultural venues are listed, the list still starts here.