Hermitage of Saint John the Baptist

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Religious architecture · Year: 1675?

It was built during the second half of the 17th century on the steep edges rising to the west of the Vegueta neighbourhood, overlooking the city. It was erected to meet the spiritual needs of the humble population that at that time was occupying the San Juan crag.

The first record of its construction is from 1662, when a petition was made to the Cabildo to build a small temple and found a chaplaincy by Juan González Boza, canon of the cathedral and native of the city of La Laguna in Tenerife. Construction began around 1672 and from its inauguration, a few years later, the Dominican friars from the nearby convent were responsible for its custody.

The building follows the traditional model of this type of small religious buildings: predominance of the Mudéjar style with a single rectangular nave and a wooden coffered ceiling covered with two-sloped tiles. A carefully crafted alfiz stands out on the main doorway, above which there is an oculus that provides light to the interior space.  

Inside, the hermitage has a notable wooden altarpiece that contains in its centre the painting of the Virgin of the Antigua by Pedro de Camprobín, of the Sevillian school. To its left is the image of the patron saint, Saint John the Baptist, who gives his name to the temple and to the neighbourhood known for its colourful houses, an unmistakable image of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

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