Places of interest
5.
Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Gracia
The Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Gracia, formerly "Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Gracia", located in the neighborhood of Santa María de Gracia in the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife island (Canary Islands, Spain), has a plant of rectangular trend, although the perimeter of the head is currently integrated into more recent buildings that prevent its appreciation. Open on the south facade, the access door is framed by a semicircular arch in very classical stonework, with baquetones adornments in the jambs, along with other moldings that form the thread of the arch. The door is made of old wood, with an elegant appearance, with carved panels, presenting a typical aspect of the late Baroque and is preceded by a grandstand with three steps. In the same wall canvas appears a window of similar morphology in masonry, with a new window protected by a latticework of iron bars, which translates into a vain linteled towards the interior. This lateral façade is longitudinally covered by a masonry bench, which houses a wooden cross with a base. At the foot of the hermitage there are indications of an old doorway of similar typology, now walled up.
The Arabic tile roof, gabled on the nave and four gables over the chapel, has a bulrush of some development in its southwestern corner, characterized by its square base, stonework factory and culminated by a body with four half-point spans that house the bells; finishing the set with perillones and a small cupola with weathervane.
Inside, with an individualized presbytery by means of a sturdy 17th century toral arch, in stonework, and by a single-step bleacher, the spacious rectangular nave is covered by a pair of pedestal and knuckle-shaped panels, with three double braces and three singles, which rest in paired and simple brackets.The decoration of the first ones is of Mudejar style crossbars and crossbars. Above the corbels, the coffered ceiling is delimited by a sogulada tube of carved wood.
The toral arch presents in its center a molding formed by two broad grooves, resting on two half columns attached to the wall, of Tuscan order, and on a quadrangular basement.
The door of the old sacristy is constituted by modern semicircular arches, while in front of it a flat door leads to the present sacristy. The flat header houses an interesting Baroque altarpiece in which the Flemish image of Nuestra Señora de Gracia, the Arcángel San Gabriel and Santa Catalina stand out.
Attached to the southern facade is the sacristy building, articulated on two floors and erected in the 1930s. Encompassing the hermitage, the large volumes of the convent of the Oblates overflow the body of the temple for its north facade, while, to the south, another wing hinders the clear perception of it. In the western end extends the old square of the hermitage, today turned into wasteland.
Surrounding the complex there is a crenellated wall, on the exterior of which there are vestiges of the old cobblestone path that runs parallel to the current road. Towards the east, the area of protection houses a terrera house with flat roof and simple facade finished off by a parapet, as well as other recent constructions destined to workshop or in state of abandonment. Towards the west, the old square of the hermitage extends, today turned into wasteland and invaded by ruderal vegetation.
Place: San Cristóbal de la Laguna