Vulcania, the "European Park of Volcanism", is an educational French

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

with a

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

theme. Situated in Saint-Ours-les-Roches,

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

, 15 km north-west of

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

, it was officially inaugurated in 2002.

History

The project was the brainchild of French

volcanologist A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, col ...

Maurice Krafft Catherine Joséphine "Katia" Krafft (née Conrad; April 17, 1942 – June 3, 1991) and her husband, Maurice Paul Krafft (March 25, 1946 – June 3, 1991), were French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen, in Japan, on June ...

, who died at

Mount Unzen is an active volcanic group of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, near the city of Shimabara, Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island. In 1792, the collapse of one of its several lava domes triggered a megatsunam ...

in 1991. Krafft and his work had a great impact on the former

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

, who pushed for the construction of the park while he was

President of the Regional Council The following is a list of current presidents of the regional councils of France and the Corsican Assembly. List Since 2011, the Departmental Council of Mayotte has simultaneously exercised the competencies of a regional council. Since 2015, t ...

Criticism

The project has faced criticism from its very inception. The strong involvement of the former president added a political dimension to the economic, technical and environmental issues. From an environmental perspective the construction of Vulcania in the heart of the Chaîne des Puys met strong opposition from conservationists. Contrary to this argument, the land had hydrocarbon deposits as the site was formerly owned by the military, therefore the project rehabilitated the land. Another strong criticism emerged due to the financial losses faced from the over-estimated number of visitors. In 2004 the park was operating with a deficit of €1.707 million.

Design

The architect behind the design of the park was

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

-winning, Austrian

Hans Hollein Hans Hollein (30 March 1934 – 24 April 2014) was an Austrian architect and designer

. Three-quarters of the foundations are sunk underground, which aided in the rehabilitation of the land. Visitors approach a 'metaphorical Volcano' by descending down a ramp towards a cone shaped structure clad in dark stone and lined on the inside with a gold metal. The design incorporates research and conference facilities, large

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

theaters, green houses to highlight the positive effects of volcanism — fertility — and a restaurant with views out to the whole nature park. The site is secluded and is also utilised for recreation and hiking.Vulcania on Architectuul
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Attractions

One of the attractions at Vulcania is the

4-D film 4D film is a high technology multisensory presentation system combining motion pictures with physical effects that are synchronized and occur in the theatre. Effects simulated in 4D films include motion, vibration, scent, rain, mist, bubbles, fo ...

''The Awakening of the Auvergne Giants''. In 2008 Vulcania opened four new attractions, including the Volcanbul, a

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

-driven robot that gives tours of the area around Vulcania. To quote from the Vulcania Web site "VolcanBul Eco-friendly and innovating the VolcanBul is an electric vehicle guided by GPS." It was specifically implemented to improve the rate of revisits and encourage visitors to spend an entire day exploring the different areas, rather than half-day as is usually the case for museums.

In literature and film

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

is the mythical smithy of the

Roman gods The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin litera ...

, described in

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

'' 8:425. It is also the secret base of Captain Nemo in Walt Disney's film version of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's novel ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Ju ...

'', but it is not mentioned in the original novel.

References

External links

Vulcania home page
{{Coord, 45.813449, 2.940501, type:landmark, display=title Volcanology Amusement parks in France Buildings and structures in Puy-de-Dôme Tourist attractions in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes by department Tourist attractions in Puy-de-Dôme 2002 establishments in France Amusement parks opened in 2002 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing