Both a science park and an amusement park, Vulcania has a dual mission: to promote knowledge of the Earth sciences and to create economic dynamism throughout the Auvergne region.
These missions rely on Vulcania’s own skills, but also on networking with the scientific, educational and economic worlds. The content of the messages delivered to the public is systematically validated by an independent International Scientific Council. This work, developed since the opening of Vulcania in 2002, has made Vulcania a scientific reference and a tool with quantified economic benefits for the Auvergne region.
A scientific team
Visits, school workshops and scientific activities are led by scientific mediators, specialized in Earth Sciences. Many of these mediators are graduates of the volcanology courses offered by Blaise Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand, further proof of Vulcania’s legitimacy within the Auvergne volcanoes.
From scientific to educational: events designed for everyone
True to its educational mission, the Vulcania science park helps young visitors discover volcanoes and the forces of nature, an integral part of the school curriculum. The park’s rich scenography and volcano-related experiments are well-suited to interdisciplinary approaches such as History, Geography, Environmental Education, Physical Sciences, Architecture, Plastic Arts… Close ties have been forged with the world of education. An authentic and exceptional scenography thanks to the Krafft collections.
Maurice and Katia KRAFFT, legendary figures in French volcanology, criss-crossed the planet for twenty-five years to study the Earth’s fires. Visitors to Vulcania have the chance to see and hear volcanic testimonies from a real-life “volcano” experience, and to reproduce them in our science park. The rumblings of the Crater, for example, are a creation based on sounds recorded on volcanoes in Italy, Iceland and Indonesia.
As an attraction park focused on observation and experimentation, Vulcania contributes fully to the understanding of the sometimes violent natural phenomena that govern our planet.