MozagaAbout 9 km (5.5 miles) behind Masdache rises in the village of Mozaga, which can be considered the geographical centre of the island, the Monumento al Campesino (Peasant’s Monument). Designed by César Manrique and built in 1968 by Jesús Soto, this 15 m (50 ft) tall, white and cubist sculpture – made out of remnants of fishing boats and water containers as used on boats – was dedicated by the artist himself “to the endeavours of all the nameless farmers, who helped to create Lanzarote’s landscapes of today”. With some imagination and looking hard enough, you might be able to make out a farmer with his helpers, a donkey and a camel.
The neighbouring Casa-Museo del Campesino is an old farmhouse, which was restored and extended in the typical Manrique style with white façades and walls, green wooden doorframes, round shapes and low ceilings. This museum houses – besides a fine collection of farm equipment and tools, such as ploughs, wooden dromedary saddles, etc… – several craft workshops illustrating rural life on the island. In one of these workshops, a dromedary is working a mill to make gofio, which is served in the museum’s historic restaurant … among other Canarian specialities worth sampling. The museum is open daily from 10.00 to 18.00 hrs and the restaurant from 12.00 to 16.30 hrs. |
