Franciscan Convent of San Pedro Alcántara

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1678

The order of Franciscan friars founded this convent in 1678 under the patronage of San Pedro Alcántara, almost sixty years after the Dominicans had founded theirs in the town. Of the Franciscan convent complex, today the magnificent church of San Francisco and the slender tower of what was its bell tower remain standing, inserted in the middle of the façade of the building now occupied by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Canarias (Canary Islands High Court of Justice), a building that came to occupy the former convent premises.

The Franciscans initially settled in the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de La Soledad, founded in 1671 and located in what were then the outskirts of the town, on the edge of the Guaite ravine. The request for the foundation of the convent was made at the beginning of 1677. The buildings were gradually erected with great difficulty. The main chapel of the church was not completed until 1721, and the San Francisco temple as we know it today was finished in 1777.

As for the convent dependencies, now disappeared, it was a fairly spacious building adjacent to the church. On the outside it had an extensive façade of which today only the magnificent tower remains, which began construction in 1769 and whose dome covered with tiles was completed in 1777. It is regrettable that over time the original continuous wooden balcony at the height of the bell tower has been lost.

The interior of the building had a beautiful cloister, a secluded courtyard and a huge rear orchard located where the Plaza del Príncipe now stands. Within the convent enclosure, besides the friars' quarters, there were rooms intended for the study of the Holy Scriptures, a small school and a library.

The Franciscan convent of San Pedro Alcántara reached nearly 25 residents in the second half of the 18th century, of whom 16 were priests. But gradually its importance diminished and over time it entered a slow decline.

In 1835 the convent closed permanently and two years later, through disentailment measures, it became the property of the City Council. The church was maintained as a religious temple; the orchard was destined for a future garden that later became the Plaza del Príncipe; and the monastic premises were used for various purposes due to their large size. The City Council was installed there, as well as the municipal primary school, the Drawing and Nautical school, the Provincial Council, courts of first instance and even, at some point, several premises functioned as a prison.

In the second decade of the 20th century, with the City Council already in its new headquarters and the old convent in a rather lamentable state after countless reforms and makeshifts, it was decided to demolish the historic building to make way for another to house such diverse services as the Court, the museum, the library, the fire brigade and the first aid station.

Today the new building houses on its façade facing Plaza de San Francisco the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Canarias (Canary Islands High Court of Justice) and, at its rear, the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes (Municipal Museum of Fine Arts).

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