A new life for an ancient castle

The noble castle that watches over the medieval town of Aínsa in the heart of the Sobrarbe Geopark (Huesca, Spain) has disregarded its defensive duties and become a leisure and cultural complex. Some of its recently created spaces are related to the Geopark.

On the 30^th of June, the President of the Diputación Provincial de Huesca (Provincial Council), Antonio Cosculluela, inaugurated the new facilities in the presence of the authorities, among them, the President of the Comarca of Sobrarbe (and President of the Geopark), Enrique Campo, the Mayor of Aínsa, José Miguel Chéliz, the President of CEDESOR (Association for the Local Development of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza), Antonio Escalona, the local government representative, Ramón Laplana, and our special guest, Nickolas Zouros, Coordinator of the European Geoparks Network.

The investment made by the county of Sobrarbe was more that €300,000 and was financed in part by CEDESOR and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.

The three new facilities, the Sobrarbe Geopark visitor centre “Space of the Sobrarbe Geopark”, the “Technical Office” and the “Geovision Room” were considered in the Master Plan (2004-2007) and spread out among the Northeast and Southeast towers of the Aínsa Castle.

The Sobrarbe Geopark visitor centre, “Space of the Sobrarbe Geopark”, occupies four floors of the Southeast tower, with around 120 m² dedicated to understanding the geological heritage of the Geopark. The main objective is to assist the visitors and help them access what is on offer throughout the territory of the Geopark. Information is available in Spanish, French and English (audio guides). The centre will be open all year with opening hours coordinated by the Comarcal Tourism Information Office of the Northeast tower.

The “Technical Office” occupies the second floor of the Northeast tower and was designed to be a work space for those researchers who request it, with library, archive and cartography services, among others. The aim of this infrastructure is to promote all levels of research related to the natural and cultural heritage of the territory.

The “Geovision Room” is on the third floor of the Northeast tower. It is equipped to house seminars of around 40 people and has sufficient space for exhibitions. It has an essentially educational purpose, as well as for specific sessions for arranged groups that will be able to enjoy documentary presentations about various aspects of the Sobrarbe Geopark. Announcing the activities of other Geoparks will receive special attention, by means of temporary exhibitions.

In short, the good use of these new facilities will be a very important step in the development of the Sobrarbe Geopark. Its privileged location, a must-see place for visitors to Sobrarbe, facilitates the triple labour of raising awareness among the local population, of spreading the interests of the Geopark and the collaboration between Geoparks.

Among the upcoming objectives related to the installations are improvement to the geotourism offer, with the participation of the local tour operators, and coordinating the museum offer and other interpretation centres throughout the territory.

Joan Poch

Scientific Director of the Sobrarbe Geopark

joan.poch@gmail.com

For more information:

 www.turismosobrarbe.com, www.sobrarbe.com,

To book a group trip:

Comarcal Tourism Information Office

info@turismosobrarbe.com

Torre Nordeste del Castillo de Aínsa,

22330 Aínsa (Huesca, España).

Tel.: (+34) 974 500 512, Fax: (+34) 974 500 507