San Francisco Cubelo

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Memory spaces · Year: 1578

This small tower, now disappeared, closed the northern wall of the city on its highest side, at the foot of the San Francisco mountain. It was built towards the end of the 1570s as the finishing touch to the wall itself, at the initiative of Governor Diego Melgarejo.

The cubelo was circular in plan, of short height and constructed of stone and mortar. It was equipped with two or three artillery pieces. It was completely ruined during the Dutch invasion in the summer of 1599. 

Thirteen years later, in 1612, the Mata castle was built in its place, a much more robust and efficient structure in the defence of this flank of the city.

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