Rancho Texas Lanzarote Park has unveiled the recreation of the façade of The Alamo and a historical classroom project to highlight the participation of Canary Island families in the founding of Texas's first civil settlement.
The director and manager of Rancho Texas Lanzarote Park, Nicolás López, revealed on Wednesday a project that connects the history of the Canary Islands with that of the Wild West. It involves a historical classroom and a monument that will commemorate the Canary families who founded San Antonio in 1731, the first civil settlement in what is now the state of Texas.
Of those families, seven were from Lanzarote. “We want to pay tribute to all those Canary families who emigrated and ended up founding what is now known as San Antonio, Texas,” López stated during the presentation of the recreation of The Alamo façade, which is now open for visitors at the park.
A classroom for students and visitors
The historical classroom, as detailed by the director, will be “compartmentalised” to accommodate students of different ages and will also feature an “immersive” proposal for other visitors. The aim is to bring closer a “still not fully known” episode of the history of the Canary Islands.
The project also includes adapted audiovisual content and an educational publication. “I think residents will like it, it will impact them, and it will make them proud,” López added.
“We want to pay tribute to all those Canary families who emigrated and ended up founding what is now known as San Antonio, Texas”
Connection with the park's identity
For López, this initiative has a direct connection with the essence of Rancho Texas. “What the cowboy was has a lot to do with us. It is not something Anglo-Saxon, but rather something Hispanic and very Lanzarotean,” he asserted.
The park aims to return the recognition that those emigrants received on the other side of the Atlantic. “They have honoured us over there, and we respond from here,” the director pointed out.
For Lanzarote visitors, the proposal represents a source of pride: discovering that seven families from the island were key players in a historic milestone in the United States. And for foreign tourists, it is an opportunity to learn about the Canary influence in the formation of the American West.
The monument to the Canary families will complement the recreation of The Alamo, which already presides over one of the park's areas. The opening date for the historical classroom has yet to be confirmed, but the park indicates it will be ready in the coming months.
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