In the midst of the crisis, Cádiz's Phoenician past became the axis of a project of economic, political and cultural transformation that aroused both adherence and discontent. The objective was to move from an industrial city to a model of urban development based on tourism. The three thousand years of history of the city should be the pillar on which the future was built. In this endeavour, politicians, journalists, archaeologists, intellectuals, businessmen and experts of all kinds were involved in endless polemics and controversies, alluding to the past and present of the city.