Zaragoza (EFE).- The iconic Bridge Pavilion designed by the architect Zara Hadid for the Zaragoza Expo 2008 reopens its doors as Mobility City, a museum of sustainable mobility that aspires to be a benchmark as an international forum and showcase of innovations in the sector that King Felipe VI inaugurated this Monday.
The King toured the different exhibition areas of the Bridge Pavilion accompanied by the President of Aragon, Javier Lambán, the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, and the Mayor of Zaragoza, Jorge Azcón. Also by Amado Franco, president of the Ibercaja Foundation, who five years ago set out to recover this emblematic building to return it to the city as a center for dissemination of the mobility challenges of the future, in sectors such as the automotive industry, energy and telecommunications , and also as a tourist boost.
The Aston Martin of James Bond
With almost 3,000 square meters on two floors, this footbridge that joins the two banks of the Ebro is considered by some to be the “Ponte Vecchio of the 21st century”, according to the general director of the Ibercaja Foundation, José Luis Rodrigo. It includes driving simulators, virtual reality glasses or a temporary display of sports cars, including James Bond’s Aston Martin.
Also prototypes of the future, a section of a “Hiperloop”, a train that will travel at 900 kilometers per hour, the drone taxi designed by the company Umiles or an exhibition dedicated to space, with replicas of the first Spanish suborbital rocket, the Miura V.
About 8 million euros have been invested in the adaptation of the bridge, contributed fifty percent by the Fundación Ibercaja and the Government of Aragon. It will open to the public on March 3, with symbolic prices yet to be defined, according to Rodrigo, between 5 and 10 euros and free for children and the expectation of having at least the 100,000 visitors that the Goya Museum in Ibercaja has received this year. .
“Transcend borders”
In his speech during the visit, the president of Aragon, Javier Lambán, has vindicated the legacy of the Expo and the then mayor Juan Alberto Belloch as its creator. In addition to the Aragonese talent and their projects with the aspiration of transcending the borders of the Community, so that they are assumed as State initiatives, since not everything can be “reserved” for Madrid or Barcelona.
Zaragoza, he said, have “endorsements” and “merits” to emerge on the national scene, yes, he said addressing the king, being clear that the Aragonese and Zaragoza projects “are always on the path to making Spain great”.
At the same time, he has highlighted the public-private collaboration to launch this technological museum of sustainable mobility in which Aragón is a reference with the Stellantis plant, the first to produce electric vehicles, and the next step, and he is sure that will be achieved, it will be the installation of a battery factory.
A bridge with “solid foundations”
Amado Franco thanked the king for agreeing to inaugurate Mobility City, a project that was born from Ibercaja’s commitment to help Zaragoza to achieve Expo 2008 and give utility to the Bridge Pavilion that is reopened today with “solid foundations”, the result of institutional collaboration .
And it does so after a crisis that took away, among other things, savings banks, although the Aragonese entity, he has said, continues “very healthy and strong”, and after the pandemic.
A showcase for sustainable, connected, autonomous and intelligent mobility that was born in Aragon, a land with experience and successes in sectors that will be pillars for the development of this mobility, the automotive industry, logistics, renewable energy or the university, has Frank underlined. He has insisted that the objective is for it to be “a watchtower” in which visitors try to glimpse the future in this matter and where companies can present their innovations, their prototypes and products and the industry can discuss its challenges.
