23/09/2009
Vitoria-Gasteiz, 23rd September
2009.- The restoration of the Santa María Cathedral has
been chosen as a referential tourism innovation project in Spain to
feature in one of the chapters that TVE is filming to show the
improvements and the development that the country is currently going
through.
Under the title “+DEspaña”, TVE is travelling around the country
filming a documentary series of 32 chapters, fifty minutes each in
length, which will be broadcast before the end of the year on La 2 and
on its International Channel, to show viewers the progress that
different regions and cities have been experiencing in areas such as
services, environmental resources, public health, industry,
infrastructures, tourism or culture, among others.
In the case of the Santa María Cathedral, it has been chosen as an
example of tourism innovation "due to its Open for Works project and
all the parallel activities that it has generated and encouraged as an
innovative cultural and tourist attraction (application of new
technologies, avant-garde activities, fusion of history, heritage and
culture with innovation) for the city of Vitoria”.
The team that travelled to the capital city of Alava toured the
entrails of the temple accompanied by Santa María Cathedral Foundation
managing director Juan Ignacio Lasagabaster, who showed them every nook
and cranny of this 13th century building which is visited by thousands
of people every year. Together they observed the archaeological
excavations that have offered so much information on the origins of the
city, and visited the triforium and parapet walk, from where they could
appreciate the original defensive character of the building. Likewise,
after observing the restoration of the portico, they were able to see
its original appearance thanks to the projection of the light
polychromies that recreate its evolution since the 16th century.
This initiative has received the collaboration of the Department of
Industry of the Basque Government.