El Pino de la Virgen
El Pino de la Virgen is a Canary Island pine in the municipality of El Paso on the Canary Island of La Palma . The tree was declared a protected cultural asset ( Bien de Interés Cultural ) in 2014 in the Sitio histórico (Historic Site) category .
It has a diameter of about 240 centimeters, a height of about 32 meters and is about 800 years old. This makes it one of the largest and the oldest of its kind.
history
First reports about the tree come from the time of the conquest of La Palma (around 1492/1493). A Spanish soldier should therefore an image of the Virgin Mary (Spanish: La Virgen) in the branches of the tree appeared to be. (Other sources report, depending on the interpretation, that the soldier found an image or a statue of Mary in the branches.) The tree was named de la Virgen and the Virgen was named del Pino (also: Nuestra Señora del Pino de la Virgen ).
In the trunk there is a cavity about two meters high, 50 centimeters wide and 40 centimeters deep. It is believed that the first statue of the Virgin Mary was placed in this hollow , which was lost at an unknown time and was replaced by a new statue. At the end of the 19th century, a small chapel was built next to the pine. In 1930 the new Ermita chapel was built in the immediate vicinity of the tree ; since then the new statue has been housed there.
According to the mayoress of El Paso, María Dolores Padilla, the tree is the motif of numerous engravings and plates . The old age and environmental influences have put the tree in a "worrying state". Biological studies by the University of La Laguna in Tenerife recommended in 2008 that tree surgery should be carried out immediately, which is now also required by politicians.
Bajada de la Virgen
Since 1955, every three years from August to September, large festivities lasting around six weeks with numerous individual events have taken place in honor of the Virgen . A highlight of the festival is the Bajada ; the statue of the Virgin Mary is carried in a procession from the chapel down to the village of El Paso.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Gobierno de Canarias
- ↑ a b c d Ayuntamiento de El Paso, Festschrift 2012 ( Memento of the original from 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ El Diario / La Palma Ahora
- ↑ Event fireworks around a fabulous pine tree - Virgen del Pino ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ El PSOE pide al Gobierno canario que intervenga para la conservación del Pino de la Virgen de El Paso (El Diario) , April 24, 2016
Coordinates: 28 ° 39 '46.4 " N , 17 ° 50' 29.4" W.