Macael’s Mining Park wins the Communication Award at the Macael Awards: marble, told from the quarry
Macael’s Mining Park wins the Communication Award at the 39th Macael Awards for spreading knowledge about the origin of marble. The gala will be on 13 November.
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In Macael, marble is not only taken out of the ground: its story is told too. And that is exactly what the sector has just rewarded. The Parque Minero de Macael (Macael Mining Park) has won the Communication Award at the 39th edition of the Macael Awards (Premios Macael), the prizes with which the Andalusian Marble Business Association (Asociación de Empresarios del Mármol de Andalucía, AEMA) recognises the best natural stone projects from around the world every year.
According to the awards’ official website, the jury valued the fact that it is “an initiative that turns the origin of Blanco Macael marble into an educational experience” about its history, its culture and its production, in the surroundings of the old Macael Viejo quarry.
From the quarry to the visitor
The Mining Park opened on 3 July, with an investment of close to €2 million, according to the Andalusian regional government (Junta de Andalucía), which drove the project. Its route includes the Escalera del Vértigo (Vertigo Staircase), two viewpoints suspended over the quarries and an immersive viewing room, and it connects with the Museo del Mármol (Marble Museum). Macael’s tourism website adds an archaeological site set up as a museum in Macael Viejo and augmented reality signs.
That is because, in the Almanzora, marble is much more than an industry: it is landscape, an inherited trade and jobs. Almería Provincial Council recognised as much this very week when it put forward AEMA for the Social Medal (Medalla de lo Social): the association has been, according to the institution, “a key pillar for holding the territory together, keeping people here and creating wealth and jobs throughout the Almanzora and the rest of the province”. Rewarding a project that explains it to visitors fits with what the Junta was seeking when it opened it: to diversify the local economy and attract visitors all year round.
In good company
The Mining Park shares the list of winners with some big names:
- Sustainability: Aponiente, Ángel León’s three-Michelin-star restaurant in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz), for helping to restore more than 20 hectares of marshland.
- Institution: Almería City Council, for the renovation of the Paseo, with more than 23,000 square metres of travertine from local quarries.
- Social Commitment: the Spanish Legion’s “Rey Alfonso XIII” II Brigade and its sports club La Desértica, whose trophies are made from Macael stone.
- National: the renovation of Paseo General Muñoz-Cobo in Arjona (Jaén).
- International, Design and Excellence: projects in the United States, Mexico, Israel and Canada.
The awards will be presented at a gala on Friday 13 November in Macael, according to La Voz de Almería.
From elValle Actualidad, we can only celebrate that the story of our land’s marble is being told, and rewarded, from where it all begins: the quarry.
