The history of San Cristóbal de La Laguna is the history of two cities, two urbanisations and two foundations. Following the conquest of Tenerife, completed on 26th September 1496, it was necessary to build a capital city. The honour fell to a town that had been the site for a great war against the aboriginals the previous year. In 1497, the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna was founded around the Church of the Conception, in the area that is presently known as San Benito. The first centre, that became known as the upper city, was made up of stone houses with straw roofs and randomly distributed streets. However, the destiny of La Laguna was about to change. Full of the renaissance spirit, the conquistador Alonso Fernández de Lugo dreamt of a rational city, with a model urban layout that showed no trace of the disorder left over from medieval times. A city mapped by clean lines, that incorporated the new ideals that came directly from Greek classicism. As a result of these ambitions, La Laguna became a showcase for a new urban model, a model which would later be transferred to the recently discovered lands of the New World.

Los Remedios

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, responsible for setting the criteria for inclusion on this prestigious list, state that human works that merit this distinction are those that "exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture, monumental arts or town-planning and landscape design". Anyone who has walked the streets of what was Tenerife's first capital will be forgiven for thinking that this criteria was decided upon in the shadows cast by the Torre de la Concepción or while strolling down the calle de La Carrera. This sculptured urban design is completed by simple and elegant Canarian architecture, beautiful patios and secluded squares.

Whoever organised the streets, a symphony of parallel and perpendicular lines which fill with fog on winter nights, did so in an anything but a random manner. They followed a meticulous plan to the extent that, initially, the task of measuring was deemed a more important trade than that of builder, stonemason or carpenter. Everything has its logic and the streets of La Laguna follow their own rules, the rules of a new and bright world that left the darkness of the Middle Ages far behind.

La Laguna is a product of the new times. The first task was to work on the inland area where there was no need for fortification. The second, to plan the layout that was reminiscent of the old military camps. The third was to divide the space between trades and social classes, reminiscent of Plato's Republic, with a separation between divine power and earthly power that broke with the tradition of Mediterranean cities (church and civil power in the same area). La Laguna is a new city, a city that looked toward the new century (the European 1500s) with the conviction of founding a new order.

Instituto Cabrera Pinto

The founders of Tenerife's new capital designed a revolutionary urban layout that was based on the rationality of the design. The intention was to achieve functionality in an urbanisation that adapted to the setting in which it was built. Constructed around the old lake that spread to the northwest of the primitive city and situated on a plain to the east Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the landscape provided an empty canvas for its creation and played a fundamental role in the urban planning.

Following renaissance guidelines, La Laguna presents a classification of territory that is based on ideological reasoning. Firstly, the division of the space followed a hierarchical plan that divided the street blocks according to the "quality" of the inhabitants. Secondly, classification followed an anthropomorphic system (comparing social order with the human body). This idea is clearly seen in the configuration of the calle de La Carrera. Running from east to west, the Plaza del Adelantado, with the market, the old Cabildo de la Isla and the courts (old jail), is the administrative head of the city; the Los Remedios Church, in the centre of the street, is the religious heart of the city and the district of San Benito, where the manual workers and farmers lived, represents the feet. This spatial distribution coincides with the idea of Plato's Republic, with a social head that thinks and governs, a heart that prays and feet that sustain the social body through their work.

But there is more still. La Laguna is also a city designed according to geometric criteria. Set on an octagonal base where the points correspond with the eight winds (north, south, east and west and intermediate points between), the axis of the street divides the layout in two and marks similar distances between the three parishes of the city (San Miguel, Los Remedios and La Concepción). The centre, personified by the Santo Domingo Church, is part of a triangle that marks the distances between the other two convents in the city, San Francisco on the northeast point, and Santo Domingo in the southeast. In addition, an exterior circular perimeter of uniform measurement was established where three small hermitages were built that, way back in the 16th century, were placed outside of the city limits.

Essential sights

Convent and church of Santo Domingo.- Although the rich ancestry of the Santo Domingo Church was lost in a fire in 1964, its walls still provide a good example of the grandiosity of what was once the largest temple in the city of La Laguna. A wonderful baroque portal at the head of the temple and semicircular arches inside hint at the wooden masterpieces and rich treasure that, sadly, was lost in the fire that engulfed this splendid building. Nowadays the most important structure is next to this building. The old convent of the same name, which now houses the Cabrera Pinto Institute, is one of the highlights of Tenerife's old capital city.

Plaza del Adelantado.- A place of congregation or public forum where the main "earthly" community services where located such as the Town Hall, the courts and the main market. Initially, the square was an esplanade of flattened earth where all the city's public acts were held. Its primitive paving dates from the end of the 18th century (1798). In the middle of the following century its interior space was redistributed until it resembled its current state, reminiscent of the romantic gardens of the 19th century.

La Concepción

Palacio de Nava.-As is the case throughout most of La Laguna, this 16th century palace hosts countless stories and anecdotes within its walls that surpass its important architectural heritage. Seat of the Nava gathering, a meeting of notable members who came to the palace to discuss earthly and divine matters, it was one of the first buildings in Spain were ideas of the Enlightenment were exchanged. From an architectural point of view, its blue stonework neoclassical façade is particularly impressive, added at the end of the 18th century, and one of the few examples of stone façades in the Canaries, revealing the wealth of the family it belonged to.

Palacio Lercaro.- This is one of the loveliest buildings in La Laguna, even though the only notable feature on its exterior is the light stone renaissance portico. What is really surprising about this building, currently home to the Museo de Historia de Tenerife, is the inside. There is a predominant use of wood on the floors and roofs, projecting from the Mudejar style coverings. The two patios are also a worthy of attention although the exuberant decoration of the central patio rather overshadows the rear one.

Ayuntamiento de La Laguna.- This fine example of Canarian architecture is the current headquarters of the local government of La Laguna and includes the old Town Hall (16th century), the Governor's House (16th century), and what is popularly known as the Casa de los Capitanes (17th century). The Town Hall's neoclassical façade, which was added in the early 19th century, is especially impressive. Other highlights include the Plateresque gate of the Casa del Corregidor (one of the few examples of this style in the Canaries) and the simple but lovely Canarian patio of the Casa de los Capitanes.

Casa Salazar.- Built at the end of the 17th century, this house has an excellent neoclassical stone façade which was undoubtedly influenced by the Palacio de Nava. Inside there is a large central patio from which the other parts of the building can be accessed. It is now the island's Episcopal headquarters.

Santo Domingo

Iglesia de la Concepción.- This was the island's main parish church and is a harmonious mixture of styles, beginning with the gothic, seen in the arches and windows of the sanctuary, and culminating with baroque in its newer features. However, what is really special about La Concepción is its renaissance flavour. Its exterior boasts an Evangelical façade and a bell tower which has become a true symbol of the city. Inside this three-nave temple offers magnificent Mudejar craftwork and superb semicircular mirrored arches.

Catedral de Los Remedios.- Built as a Mudejar church in the early 16th century, it became home to the new Episcopal once the diocese of Tenerife was liberated from that of Gran Canaria. The first step was to replace the primitive façade for a nobler one. A neoclassical design was chosen and work began in 1825 and finished at the beginning of the 20th century, a century that also saw remodelling work carried out inside the building, with clear neo-gothic influences in the cathedral's three naves.

Santuario del Cristo.- This is one of the most venerated religious spaces in the Canarian Archipelago. This small Mudejar temple, with splendid coffered ceilings, contains the most venerated religious image in Tenerife. The Cristo de La Laguna, a Flemish sculpture from the 16th century from the Antwerp school, was brought to the island through the commercial trade established with the Low Countries based around the sugar market. This sculpture, one of the best in the Canaries, presides over a temple that, during the first week of September, becomes an epicentre for religious life and festivity in the town.

City Council

Convent of Santa Catalina.- Located in the Plaza del Adelantado, this is a clear example of conventual cloister architecture in the Canaries. On the exterior, the two wooden viewing points are of particular interest and enable the nuns to observe what is happening outside their walls without being observed. The convent's church has a renaissance façade and a Mudejar style roof.

Convent of Santa Clara.- Work on this convent began in 1547 and, although it was initiated by Franciscan monks, the work was later passed to the Clarisas order. The church's façade, showing renaissance touches, is especially impressive, as is the window on the corner of calle Viana, that was built in 1717. Inside highlights include the single-aisle temple and the spectacular Mudejar coffered ceiling.