Viera y Clavijo Cultural Park (former Colegio de La Asunción)

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1905 · Authors: Mariano Estanga

This building was designed in 1905 by the architect Mariano Estanga as a female education centre for the community of Augustinian nuns of La Asunción.

It features a structure with a wide façade in which the chapel stands out in the centre. From there, the successive modules are set back until concluding in two turrets. The works were prolonged over time and, after the First World War, another architect, Antonio Pintor, reformed the chapel and important aspects of the original building, although always preserving the neo-Gothic typology of the entire complex.

It is the only example in Santa Cruz of religious educational architecture that was so profusely developed with the Alfonsine restoration in Spain.

The Asuncionists, who always took pride in their French origin (they gave great importance to this language and its culture), remained in this building until the late 1970s. Afterwards, the entire site, along with its enormous gardens running along the slopes of the Santos ravine, became municipal property. The City Council wanted to create an important cultural park for the city in this place, a project that never came to fruition, as after a few years hosting some activities, ownership passed to the Gobierno de Canarias (Government of the Canary Islands).

Years have passed and the entire complex is in an advanced state of deterioration.

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