Horno de brea de Arico

The Brea furnaces are located in the town of Arico, in the middle of La Corona Forestal Natural Park. In this area there are still remnants of what was once an important industry that began to proliferate after the conquest of Tenerife ended around 1496 and whose activity lasted until the end of 1640.

Pitch furnaces predates the founding of the Arico municipality and Portuguese teachers were responsible for its operation. Pitch was a product with great interest for countries such as Spain, Holland, France or the United Kingdom, was used to waterproof ships and to obtain 15 kg of product was necessary 100 kg of firewood.

The cabildo granted administrative concessions for the exploitation of forest areas, in exchange for financing through taxes.

Currently, some of these ovens are still preserved and at this point of Arico it is possible to discover them.