New European Bauhaus Champions 2023

Based on the local people mobilisation, who collaborated with various public, educational, cultural, scientific and crafts stakeholders, a non-profit association named Vaivén-Paraíso was created by the locals to manage the project and animate the place. The restoration has been based on locals' know-how and aimed to create a dynamic area where heritage meets today’s way of living, a place where awareness of biodiversity is raised, allowing end-users to build and share a new sense of belonging.

The Sacromonte Caves Museum offers nowadays an animated open space of 10,000 m2 in the middle of a preserved nature. It is composed of tree spaces: the first presents eleven rehabilitated caves, traditional dwellings and living places in this area. Visitors can discover in a participatory manner, helped by an extensive didactic information, the history, the traditions, the culture and the art of flamenco, unique to the ethnic minority of the Gypsies which has been its initial inhabitant for centuries. A botanical garden, dedicated to biodiversity where the native fauna and flora as well as the geological development of the Darro Valley, surrounds the caves. It is interpreted with panels in different languages. Finally, a multipurpose area, with a stage for performances and projections, is animated by multiple local stakeholders.

In twenty years, by this project, locals succeeded in consolidating a sustainable cultural and environmental space in which heritage and biodiversity are recognized and can be shared through educational and cultural activities.