The autonomous secretary of the Valencian Bureau of Tourism, Francesc Colomer and the vice-principal for Territorial Projection and Participation, Jorge Hermosilla inaugurate this showing on 12 July, at 12:00. Both institutions present this unique and original exhibition that will offer the visitor the possibility of participating in an approximate analysis of the Valencian Community’s landscape, as well as to transport to the different typologies of landscape that can be found in the Valencian territory. The exhibition aims at giving a view of the diversity of the Valencian landscape and how this traditional touristic resource in the Valencian Community can and must be taken care of as a source of economic, social and cultural richness.

The exhibition is divided into four areas. In the first one, there will be an approximation to the definition of landscape through a Sandbox and interactive maps that aim at making the visitor think about what is meant by tourism and landscape. In the second area, there will be a large format projection through which the territorial inherited values that characterise a landscape, such as the tangible and intangible heritage, nature, economics, etc., will be analysed. The third part of the showing focuses on the definition of landscape beyond photography: a landscape of experiences, to be lived, where emotions are the protagonists. In this section, the visitor will be able to interact with touch screen, photographs, audio-visual material, games, 3D mock-ups, replicas of archaeologic pieces, etc.  The fourth and last area has as an objective to analyse ‘where we want to go’. It aims at leading the public towards a touristic model where the key is the experience, to run away from the fix image and to experiment the real landscape.

The vice-principal for Territorial Projection and Participation of the Universitat de València, Jorge Hermosilla, has explained that the exhibition represents the Valencian territory: ‘We are a community of contrasts and landscape attractions, as a result of the interaction between the man and the nature throughout history. Valued and varied landscapes which are not always appreciated because many of them are unknown or not considered as they deserve’. He has also affirmed: ‘we understand that landscapes provide us with an excellent opportunity both for its social and economic value’.

The autonomous secretary for Tourism, Francesc Colomer, has stressed that this exhibition is the right answer for the Valencian tourism and he has pointed out that: ‘we have consciously chosen the City of Arts and Sciences for the location of the showing since it is an icon of the avant-garde architecture that we have now turned into a space to host the most genuine spaces of the touristic proposal that we find, that is to say, the landscapes’.

In this regard, he has highlighted that ‘landscapes are the guiding principle of our touristic tale’ as well as ‘they are the great incubator of the more honest and believable touristic products that we can offer to the world’. Finally, he has underlined that ‘this exhibition strengthen the touristic identity of the City of Arts and Sciences. This space is part of all the Valencian territories that are shown in the display and of all society, from Guardamar to Vinaroz’.

This exhibition is framed within the project ‘Valencian, valuable, valued touristic landscapes’, which is a result of the collaboration agreement between the Valencian Bureau of Tourism and the Universitat de València. ‘Both institutions stand up for an innovative tourism model, whose starting point is a modality of the cultural heritage common to all the Valencian people, the historic landscapes created during decades and even centuries’, has stated the vice-principal. He has also said that it is the moment of ‘reclaiming the revaluation the Valencian Community’s landscapes, in a coordinated way’.