Church of La Luz

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Religious architecture · Year: 1913 · Authors: Laureano Arroyo

The parish of Our Lady of Light is located on the site that once housed one of the oldest hermitages in Gran Canaria, possibly established with the arrival of the conquerors in 1478 and later rebuilt in the mid-16th century.

The current temple began to be built in 1906. In those early years of the 20th century, the La Isleta neighbourhood had a population exceeding 12,000 people. The Port was a constant draw for labour, and farmers from the interior of the island and the rest of the archipelago kept arriving. One of the needs of this expanding area was a new church.

It was the architect Laureano Arroyo who, with his characteristic eclecticism, designed the plans for the new religious building. A huge central nave with a height of more than 20 metres houses the esteemed neoclassical image of Our Lady of Light, a late 18th-century work by the renowned sculptor José Miguel Luján Pérez, which was already installed in the old hermitage.

The construction of the temple was slow and arduous due to lack of funds to complete it. After seven years of work, the building was finished in 1913. It was consecrated on 9 May the following year under the blessing of Bishop Marquina.

The work carried out by the parish of La Luz over more than a hundred years of activity has been invaluable for the residents of La Isleta and its surroundings.

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