All Saints Church (Puerto de la Cruz)

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All Saints Anglican Church in Puerto de la Cruz , Tenerife

The All Saints Church is the parish church of the Church of England in Puerto de la Cruz in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain. The parish belongs to the diocese of Europe with the archbishop's seat in Gibraltar . The church building is also used by the congregation of the German Evangelical Church in Puerto de la Cruz.

History of the community

A first indication of the presence of members of the Anglican Church in Puerto de la Cruz is a cemetery outside the village near the Castillo San Felipe, the king Ferdinand VI. Approved in 1747. People who were denied a grave in the general cemetery because they were not baptized Catholics could be buried there. This cemetery, called La Chercha ( corruption of The churchyard ) still exists today and is maintained by the Anglican community.

The English merchants who settled in Puerto de la Orotava, today's Puerto de la Cruz, from the 16th century onwards, were initially not allowed to practice their religion publicly, but were not bothered by the Spanish Inquisition in their private practice because they were not baptized Catholic. In 1605, James I of England and Philip III signed. from Spain an agreement that allowed the English living in Spain to hold services privately and in their homes.

After the liberal revolution of 1869, freedom of religion was recognized in Spain. At least all foreigners living in Spain were allowed to practice a cult other than Catholic, public and private. In Puerto de la Cruz, services according to the Book of Common Prayer were held regularly in private homes. In the house of the Reid family, whose members often held the office of vice-consul , there was a suitable room that was used by the growing community. Many of the participants in the church services were no longer resident traders and their families in Puerto, but only temporarily English people.

Tourism was an industry that grew in importance in Tenerife at the end of the 19th century. The main target group were members of the English upper class who wanted to cure their lung ailments in the Canary Islands. In 1890 the Gran Hotel Taoro was opened on a site above the city . As a measure to improve the tourist infrastructure, u. a. considered an English church. For this reason, the management of the Grand British Hotel gave the Anglican community a piece of land in the extensive park (today Taoro Park) with the condition that a church be built there. The financing came from a large number of donations from members of the community living in Puerto, but also from people who only stayed on the island for a while. From November 1, 1891, the feast day of All Saints' Day , it was used regularly. The church was only consecrated on January 15, 1893 by the Anglican Bishop of Sierra Leone , to whose diocese the Canary Islands then belonged.

In the 1960s the building was also used by the Church of Sweden . Today, Sunday evening services are held by the German Protestant parish.

West window

building

The building was designed by the British architect Walter I. Wood. It is a typical example of the English Gothic Revival ( Gothic Revival ). The chancel adjoins a main nave and two aisles with double pointed arch windows . The walls are made of largely uncut local basalt and are not plastered inside the church either. On the south wall is a large-scale reproduction of the mural The Light of the World , which the pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt created in Keble College in Oxford between 1851 and 1853 . In 2015 a new electronic one was installed in the north side of the chancel, which replaced an organ that had not been playable for many years. There are notable stained glass windows. The east window represents the faith and hope that stand by the Good Shepherd. The three-part west window shows the figures of a prophet, an apostle, an archbishop and a martyr. In the south aisle, a window from 1920 shows the two prophets Daniel and Ezekiel . The window in the north aisle shows the baptism of Jesus and Saint Christopher .

Rectory

The rectory ( parsonage ) is a memento of the time when health tourism was gaining traction on the island and the English language and culture was seen as an important element of the island's development. The two-story building, like the church, was built from local granite. The veranda open to the garden and the external covered stairs to the roof terrace are striking . Similar to the many private houses of British citizens permanently living on the island, the rectory was built as an elegant "residence" in which the pastor with his family and service staff could be accommodated appropriately. The building was later adapted to the practical needs of the community. The priest's private rooms were on the first floor, while the ground floor had a meeting room, administration rooms, a large kitchen and toilets. In recent years the building has been completely renovated with the support of the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife.

Today there is u. a. also housed the municipal administration of the German-language Evangelical Church.

Garden of Remembrance

The Garden of Remembrance (Garden of Remembrance) was created because burial facilities can hardly be used again in the “La Chercha” cemetery. The ashes of the deceased are scattered along the south wall of the church property in an area planted with rose bushes. A small name plaque reminds of those buried here.

literature

  • Mariano Delgado: Religion and the Public in Spain - Reflections on the Laicism Debate. In: Mariano Delgado, Ansgar Jödicke, Guido Vergauwen (eds.): Religion and the public. Problems and Perspectives (Religionsforum 4) . Stuttgart 2009, p. 119-139 ( unifr.ch [PDF]).

Web links

Commons : All Saints Church, Puerto de la Cruz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e The anglican Church of Tenerife North and La Palma. Church of England and Diocese in Europe. Retrieved July 23, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Evangelical Church. Parroquia Evangélica de Lengua Alemana en la provincia Santa Cruz de Tenerife (German-speaking Evangelical Church in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife; religious body under Spanish law), accessed on 23 July 2015 .
  3. ^ Javier D. Estévez: Anglicanismo en Canarias: el caso del Puerto de la Cruz. (PDF) p. 11 , archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on May 24, 2020 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Nicolás González Lemus: Viajeros Victorianos en Canarias . Ediciones del Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 1998, ISBN 84-8103-183-6 , p. 338 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Manuel Hernández González: Tenerife Patrimonio Histórico y Cultural . Editorial Rueda, Madrid 2002, ISBN 84-7207-134-0 , p. 196 f . (Spanish).
  6. ^ A. Sebastián Hernández Gutiérrez, Carmen Milagros González Chávez: Arquitectura para la ciudad burguesa . Ed .: Consejería de Educación, Universidades, Cultura y Deportes (=  Historia cultural del arte en Canarias . Volume 6 ). Santa Cruz de Tenerife; Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2009, ISBN 978-84-7947-535-2 , p. 118 f . (Spanish, gobiernodecanarias.org [PDF; accessed August 1, 2015]).
  7. ↑ Evangelical Church. Parroquia Evangélica de Lengua Alemana en la provincia Santa Cruz de Tenerife (German-speaking Evangelical Church in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife; religious body under Spanish law), accessed on 23 July 2015 .

Coordinates: 28 ° 24 ′ 33.4 ″  N , 16 ° 32 ′ 54.1 ″  W.