Cesar Manrique Foundation

Cesar Manrique returned to Lanzarote from New York in 1966 and built this house at Tahiche on a lava field from the eruptions of the 1730s, using five natural bubbles in the flow as rooms, connected by tunnels cut through the rock and lit by openings, with a white modernist upper floor above. He lived there until 1988 and turned it into a foundation. Manrique shaped Lanzarote more than any other individual: he persuaded the island government to ban high-rise building and roadside advertising, to require white walls and green or blue woodwork, and he designed a series of public interventions that made tourism there look unlike the rest of the Canaries. He was killed in a road accident in 1992 near the foundation.

What you actually see

• The lava bubbles - five volcanic voids used as rooms, linked by tunnels.
• The upper house - a white modernist floor above the flow.
• The collection - his own work alongside pieces by Picasso, Miro and others.
• The island policy - the building rules he shaped, visible everywhere outside.

When to go

Year-round; Lanzarote is dry and mild in all seasons. The foundation closes on some public holidays and gets busy at midday when coach groups arrive.

Honest expectations

The house is small and the visit takes about ninety minutes. The bubble rooms are cramped and involve steps and low passages. His actual home for his last years was at Haria, which is a separate museum.

Nearby

Arrecife lies south; Jameos del Agua, Mirador del Rio and Timanfaya are elsewhere on the island.