Bullring

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1893 · Authors: Antonio Pintor y Ocete

The project for a bullring in Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the result of the unanimous reception given to a series of bullfights held in 1891 on a wooden ring set up in the city of La Laguna. The following year, the private society La Tinerfeña dared to build a proper bullring in what was then the outskirts of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the so-called Paseo de los Coches, in a stretch then known as Rambla XI de Febrero.

The author of the project was the architect Antonio Pintor who, in 1892, presented plans for the ring to be built. A façade was designed articulated by means of a polygon with thirty-six sides clearly inspired by Neo-Mudéjar style, as was common in this type of building. During its construction, various carpentry and blacksmith workshops were established on the same site, with the works progressing rapidly, completing the entire complex in less than a year.

The arena was officially inaugurated during the city’s May festivities in 1893, with the participation of the most important bullfighters of the time (Luis Mazzantini and Antonio Moreno Lagartijillo ), filling the capacity completely with 6,800 spectators.

In 1924 a major fire broke out in the enclosure that destroyed much of the facilities, leaving the bullring inoperative for at least three years. Throughout its history, the most important figures of bullfighting performed in this venue, with the last event held in 1984.

In 1991 the Government of the Canary Islands approved a law called Animal Protection , which dealt the final blow to the National Bullfighting Festival in Santa Cruz. The bullring, which has also hosted international boxing matches, large concerts, summer cinema, fairs, carnival contests, Canarian wrestling and many other spectacles, remains privately owned and today is abandoned and almost in a state of ruin, with its future uncertain.

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