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Museo de la Ciencia y del Cosmos
Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Museum of astronomy, technology, and science, founded in 1993 by the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC). It is the most important science and astronomy museum of the Canary Islands. The inauguration of the museum in 1993 was attended by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev. The objective of the museum is the promotion of science, and has a focus on interactive exhibits and displays. It covers mostly astronomy but also many other sciences, and has displays on topics such as solar activity, model telescopes, human senses, and general physics principles. It also features a 6.5-m planetarium. Most exhibits only in Spanish, so a working knowledge of Spanish is required for full appreciation of a visit. With planetarium included, count ca. 2-3 hours for a complete visit.
The Museum of Science and the Cosmos is an astronomy, technology, and science museum located in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife island, in the Spanish Canary Islands of Macaronesia. It belongs to the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Tenerife Organization of Museums and Centers. The museum opened in 1993 under the initiative of the Cabildo and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). It is considered the primary astronomy and science museum of the Canary Islands and the Macaronesian archipelago.
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Iglesia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán
Built on the site of an earlier chapel, the current church and the attached convent date to the 16th and 17th centuries. The church is known as the burial spot of Amaro Pargo, one of Spain's most infamous pirates, a La Laguna native who died here in 1747. Also noteworthy is the interior 22-metre-long fresco, painted in the 1940s by Mariano de Cossío and Martínez-Fortún.
One of the central plazas in the city, named after conqueror of the island Tenerife, Alonso Fernandez de Lugo, who had his residence at this plaza in the 16th century where what is now the Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena. Until the end of the 20th century the plaza was the most important location for public events, markets, processions, bullfights, and even the execution of death sentences. For the first centuries of its existence the plaza was barren, until it was paved for the first time in 1798 and trees were added to provide shadow in 1843. The central marble fountain is the most characteristic element of the plaza, and the most aesthetic of the historical quarter. It was sculpted in Marseille where it embarked to San Cristóbal de La Laguna in 1869. The 30 ton fountain arrived by ship, and was inaugurated in 1870.
Convento de Santa Catalina de Siena
Dominican order convent at the Plaza del Adelantado, hosting the preserved body of Maria de Leon Bello y Delgado, popularly called La Siervita. The convent was founded in 1606 by alderman Juan de Cabrejas and his wife, who purchased the residence of Alonso Fernandez de Lugo in the early 17th century and converted it into the convent. In 1611 the convent was inaugurated and 4 nuns from Seville moved in, multiplying to many hundreds of nuns over the next centuries. The current church is topped with a belfry with a single nave, and high and low choirs. Noteworthy are the 2 carved wooden access doors flanked by stonework arches. The altarpiece stands out in particular, along with the ironwork that separates the inner sanctum dating from the 17th century. The large altarpiece in the main chapel is from the hand of Antonio de Orbaran and Antonio Alvarez, dating from 1665. The convent was declared a cultural monument of the Canarias in 1986, and worth a visit.
Casa de los Capitanes Generales
Early 17th-century house, constructed between 1624 and 1631, then known as the House of the General Captains after the 6 army captains who lived here between 1705 and 1723. Architectural curiosities are the windows set in red stone frames, arranged asymmetrically. The building is arranged around a central patio. It now houses the City Hall and a tourist office. The atrium is worth a visit.
Cemeterio de San Juan Bautista
Improvised cemetery where over 9,000 victims of the 1581 bubonic plague outbreak are buried.
Iglesia de San Juan Bautista
Parish church with a single nave decorated with timber sculptures dedicated to San Juan Bautista, the co-patron of the city, and before the 16th century merely a saint like any other. When the bubonic plague was brought into the city in 1581, concealed in tapestries imported from Flanders, an outbreak followed immediately and resulted in 9,000 casualties. The dead were buried in mass graves at an improvised cemetery. The outbreak was declared over when no more deaths had occurred for a year, on 24 June 1582 -- the day of San Juan Bautista. As a monument in honour of the saint, a church was constructed and named after him near the cemetery.