El Pilar Nuevo Square

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Squares, streets & markets

«... we walked along to the end of calle Balcones, where there is an ancient and picturesque fountain, where the locals draw their water. There were a few lads carrying long cane ladles [...], with which they were filling their barrels with the gentle flow of water. They all looked so picturesque [...], as they leaned on the grey stones with an unconscious elegance...»

This is how the plaza del Pilar Nuevo is described by Olivia M. Stone, an English adventurer who had been a visitor to our island in the last third of the 19th century.

Up to the 20th century, recreated stone pillars like these, or like the one at Plaza de Santo Domingo, dating from the 18th century, were there for the daily collection of water, and therefore great social meeting places, especially for the less well off classes.

The stone pillars were buzzing with comments, stories and gossip on a daily basis, while people waited patiently to collect their water. The technique used was ingenious, as the water bubbled up quite high at these fountains. Recipients were placed on to the support on the fountains' large lower bowl, with the aid of a long cane placed on the holes of a smaller upper bowl, the water flowed up to the pitcher. Once this was full, it was placed on a cloth pad on the carrier's head for transport. A few of the girls were said to be able to carry two pitchers at a time, one on their head and another on their thigh, in quite an extraordinary balancing act. 

Nowadays, there are still generations who can remember seeing the washing ladies pass by the city streets, who used the same technique to transport their huge talegas on their heads with their dirty washing, on their way to the washing channels along Guiniguada.

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