La Unión y el Fénix

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 2006?

This sculpture was the symbol and emblem of the Spanish insurance company La Unión y el Fénix, founded in 1879 by the merger of the insurers La Unión (1856) and El Fénix Español (1864). Besides its insurance work, the company stood out for amortising its assets through the acquisition and refurbishment of properties. Banco Español de Crédito (Banesto) took control of the entity from 1988 until December 1993, when both companies were intervened. A month later it was absorbed by the French multinational AGF, which renamed it AGF-Unión Fénix. Its definitive disappearance occurred in 1998, when the insurer Allianz bought AGF and merged all its subsidiaries in Spain.​

Most of the main headquarters of La Unión y el Fénix scattered across the main cities of Spain were crowned by this sculptural figure showing Ganymede on a phoenix bird. Nowadays, some of these sculptures are considered BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural - Asset of Cultural Interest); this is not the case of the one located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

This sculpture was initially located, perhaps since the late 1960s, in Plaza de la Candelaria, at the corner with the pedestrian passage known as de los Peligros, crowning the building where the insurer's headquarters were. After the company's disappearance, the sculpture was moved to a municipal depot where it remained for some time, until at the beginning of the 21st century it was placed in its current location on Avenida Ángel Guimerá, at the entrance of an underground car park located very close to Plaza de Weyler.

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