Hospice of San Agustín

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

In the 18th century, before 1758, the Augustinian friars had established a hospice in Santa Cruz, in what were then the wastelands of El Toscal, a place we now locate at the junction of La Marina and San Francisco streets.

It is not clear whether the hospice was a poorhouse or a place of rest and residence for the brothers of the congregation; it possibly served both functions. What we do know is that the building was very modest, with a small oratory and a slender wooden cross on its façade, a cross that still stands very close to its original location and is known as the Cross of San Agustín. The hospice was closed in 1767, possibly due to lack of resources.

28.473223, -16.247744