Roque de Agando (commonly called Roque Agando) is a prominent rock formation on the island of

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. It is one of La Gomera's most striking features and is frequently used as a symbol for the island. Roque Agando is the most prominent of a group of

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged ma ...

s called simply ''Los Roques'', near the centre of the island. The others are named Roque Ojila and Roque Zarcita, and sometimes Roque Carmona and Roque Las Lajas are also included. It rises directly above the main road between the island's capital

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

and

Garajonay National Park Garajonay National Park ( es, Parque nacional de Garajonay, ) is located in the center and north of the island of La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands (Spain). It was declared a national park in 1981 and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. ...

in the centre, which makes it a popular tourist sight. The summit is not accessible by foot. During the 20th century, some easy

rock-climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants Climbing, climb up, across, or down natural Rock (geology), rock formations. The goal is to reach the Summit (topography), summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined Climbing ro ...

routes were established on the peak, but climbing is now banned there, and hiking is restricted to established paths in its vicinity, as it forms part of a protected area. Remains of the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Guanche Guanche may refer to: *Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands *Guanche language, an extinct Berber language, spoken by the Guanches until the 16th or 17th century *''Conus guanche ''Conus guanche'' is a species of sea snail, a ma ...

sacrificial shrines have been found on the summit. These were in good condition until the 1980s, when they were

looted Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

by a German group making a documentary film.Documento Informativo, p. 51

References

{{reflist La Gomera Mountains of the Canary Islands Volcanic plugs of the Canary Islands