Vulcania
Encyclopedia
Vulcania, the "European Park of Volcanism", is a park with a Volcano
theme situated in Saint-Ours-les-Roches, Auvergne
, France
.
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
, former President of France, pushed for the foundation of the park while he was president of the regional council of Auvergne
. The museum was inaugurated in 2002.
The project has been intensely criticized: it appears that far fewer visitors are coming to the park than was forecast by proponents of the project, resulting in significant losses.
The primary architect of the park was Austria
n Hans Hollein
.
"Vulcania" is the mythical smithy
of the Roman gods, described in Virgil's
Aeneid
8:425.
One of the attractions is the 4-D film
The Awakening of the Auvergne Giants.
An other attraction is the Volcanbul, which is a GPS driven robot, which gives tours of the area around Vulcania. To quote from the Vulcania website "VolcanBul Eco-friendly and innovating the VolcanBul is an electric vehicle guided by GPS."
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
theme situated in Saint-Ours-les-Roches, Auvergne
Auvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
, former President of France, pushed for the foundation of the park while he was president of the regional council of Auvergne
Auvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
. The museum was inaugurated in 2002.
The project has been intensely criticized: it appears that far fewer visitors are coming to the park than was forecast by proponents of the project, resulting in significant losses.
The primary architect of the park was Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Hans Hollein
Hans Hollein
Hans Hollein, is an Austrian architect and designer.Hollein achieved a diploma at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1956, then attended the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1959 and the University of California, Berkeley in 1960...
.
"Vulcania" is the mythical smithy
Smithy
Smithy may refer to:* Forge, also called a smithy, the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith* Smith , sometimes referred to as a smithy, a person involved in the shaping of metal objects...
of the Roman gods, described in Virgil's
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
8:425.
One of the attractions is the 4-D film
4-D film
4-D film is a marketing term that describes an entertainment presentation system combining a 3-D film with physical effects in the theatre, which occur in synchronization with the film...
The Awakening of the Auvergne Giants.
An other attraction is the Volcanbul, which is a GPS driven robot, which gives tours of the area around Vulcania. To quote from the Vulcania website "VolcanBul Eco-friendly and innovating the VolcanBul is an electric vehicle guided by GPS."