- It is located in the recovered area of the Compostilla I thermal power plant and will host cultural, leisure and training activities linked to the mining and energy identity of the area.
- It is a quality cultural project open by and for the citizens, headquarters of the Cultural Network for a Just Transition. focused on generating cultural offerings in these territories and supporting the artistic careers of these new performers.
- Its creation and management has been entrusted to the City of Energy Foundation (CIUDEN) through the Institute for Just Transition (ITJ).
The Third Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, inaugurated today in Ponferrada La Térmica Cultural, a new space for memory, culture and leisure. This project, located in the former thermal power plant of Compostilla I, includes a multipurpose space, conceived as a service to the citizenship, which recovers the industrial heritage, preserves the memory and revitalizes the territory through four lines of action: museum and exhibition activity; venue for forums, conferences and events; training center, digital training and workshops, and as a space open to citizenship and culture.
The opening ceremony was attended by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who during his time as head of the Government of Spain promoted the creation of the City of Energy Foundation (CIUDEN), creator and manager of La Térmica Cultural.
During the tour of the facilities, the Vice President was also accompanied by the Government Delegate in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones; the Government Subdelegate in León, Faustino Sánchez; the Mayor of Ponferrada, Olegario Ramón; the Director of the Institute for Just Transition (ITJ), Laura Martín Murillo; and the Director of the Ciudad de la Energía Foundation (CIUDEN), Arsenio Terrón. The opening ceremony was attended by the mayors of the 70 municipalities of the Just Transition areas of Castilla y León, as well as representatives of the Provincial Council of León, the Regional Council of El Bierzo, the Santa Bárbara Foundation and the University of León, among others.
More than 6,500 usable square meters on three floors
The complex has a surface area of more than 6,500 m2 distributed over 3 floors and a maximum capacity of 4,700 people. Around the building, 39,000 square meters of green areas have been created and pedestrian accesses, communication routes and 80 surface parking spaces have been provided.
The spaces are designed for different uses, such as hosting permanent and temporary exhibitions, artistic performances and informative events, or workshops and professional training courses.
Admission to visit the facility is free and the opening hours are from Friday to Sunday. All information is available on its website or through its social profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Permanent exhibitions: Green Fire and Virtual Reality
La Térmica Cultural houses museum spaces and exhibitions on energy and innovation, anthropology and culture, and the mining and energy identity of the territory. Thus, the permanent exhibition Green Fire, deals with photosynthesis as a channeling vehicle of solar energy for all living beings. It is located in the Sala Calderas, named after the old boiler room of the thermal power plant, now colonized by vegetation consisting mostly of tree ferns over 300 years old that reach heights of up to 7 meters high.
Shrub species such as todeas, equisetum and others from Southeast Asia complement this surprising and unique ensemble. Climbing plants such as passionflower, up to 25 meters high, will invade the walls and columns of the Sala Calderas, making it a place of contrast between the industrial structure of concrete and vegetation.
In the Lignite Room is another of the permanent exhibits. This is 'Turn on the power plant', a truly immersive experience that will allow visitors to immerse themselves in the operation of a thermal power plant and discover its ins and outs through Virtual Reality (VR) glasses.
This educational experience offers the user a 360° guided tour of all the facilities of a thermal power plant. In this case, it reproduces Compostilla II, in a 15-minute tour that goes from the arrival of the cargo at the coal yard to the inside of the turbine hall. The application emulates 3D scenarios that allow the user to interact with all its components by means of a joystick and learn about their use and operation. Its technology will allow this activity to be toured and enjoyed in other areas of just transition in the country. In addition, work is already underway to obtain this same experience for the rest of the coal-fired power plants in Spain.
Temporary and itinerant contents
The lobby of La Térmica Cultural hosts the temporary exhibition 'Just Transition: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow' that brings visitors closer to the reality of the areas in energy transition and the strategies adopted for these territories with an eminent industrial past to adapt to the new context. This open space is intended to show the actions carried out by the different programs of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the Institute for Just Transition (ITJ), in the Just Transition areas of our country and its contents will travel through the different Just Transition territories of the country.
Kabu Verdi: Hora di bai', an exhibition that tells the story of the first great migratory process of contemporary times with Spain as its destination, can be visited at the Sala Hulla until September 10. Specifically, that of the Cape Verdean citizens who arrived in the mining areas of Leon to work in the exploitation of coal. This temporary exhibition belongs to the project People who Migrate, Objects that Migrate of the National Museum of Anthropology.
A complete cultural program
La Térmica Cultural is also the headquarters of the Cultural Network for the Just Transition and hosts in its facilities an interesting cultural agenda designed for the citizens of El Bierzo and visitors that can be consulted here.
The first concerts will begin on the weekend of March 31, when the facilities open their doors to the public. On Friday the percussion duo Digraph Project will perform with Cicle; on Saturday 1 there will be a film-concert session by Caspervek with El maquinista de la General and, finally, on Sunday 2 the musical group New Tocados will offer a street show to bring the music of the last decades to visitors.
This first lineup of performances at La Térmica Cultural is part of the Dinamiz-ARTj program, one of the lines of work of the Cultural Network of the Institute for Just Transition focused on generating cultural offerings in these territories and supporting the artistic careers of these new performers. The performances will be free and require prior booking through the website of La Térmica Cultural or at the reception.
