The Church of St James () is a Roman Catholic parish church located in the town of

Los Realejos Los Realejos is a town and a municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife, which is the biggest town in the Canary Islands. It is part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province), Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. The town i ...

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

, Spain. Founded in 1496, it was declared a national monument of Spain by 598 (February 2, 1983) (B.O.E. N.º 69). It is dedicated to Saint

James the Great James the Great ( Koinē Greek: Ἰάκωβος, romanized: ''Iákōbos''; Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ, romanized: ''Yaʿqōḇ''; died AD 44) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was the second of the apostles t ...

, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Spain.

Background

Founded in 1496, the church was one of the first religious buildings in Tenerife after the military stage of the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

had ended. After the

Conquest of the Canary Islands The conquest of the Canary Islands by the Crown of Castile took place between 1402 and 1496 in two periods: the , carried out by Castilian nobility in exchange for a covenant of allegiance to the crown, and the , carried out by the Spanish crow ...

Alonso Fernández de Lugo Alonso Fernández de Lugo (; died 1525) was a Spanish conquistador, city founder, and administrator. He conquered the islands of La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496) for the Castilian Crown; they were the last of the Canary Islan ...

decided to build a shrine to Saint James the Apostle as a token of gratitude. Also, as seen by their heraldry, towns like

Gáldar Gáldar is a town and a Spanish municipality in the north of the island of Gran Canaria in the Province of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Its population is (2013), On July 25, 1496, on the

Feast of Saint James The Feast of Saint James, also known as Saint James' Day, is a commemoration of the apostle James the Great celebrated on July 25 of the liturgical calendars of the Catholic Church and the Church of England. The Eastern Orthodox liturgical ...

, nine Gaunche kings were baptized. Among them were

Adjona Adjona, also written Adxoña or Atxoña was the Guanches, Guanche mencey (king) of the Menceyato de Abona at the time of the conquest of Tenerife in the fifteenth century. Adjona normally lived in Vilaflor, in the territory of Abona, although the ...

Añaterve Añaterve was the Guanche Mencey (king) of Menceyato de Güímar at the time of the conquest of Tenerife in the 15th century. Kingship and European invasion Añaterve was the king of Güímar. This territory had an evangelizing mission since the m ...

, and

Beneharo Beneharo was a Guanches, Guanche king of Menceyato de Anaga on the island of Tenerife. Beneharo made peace in 1492 with Lope de Salazar, who had been sent by the governor of Gran Canaria Francisco Maldonado. After a slave raid shortly after again ...

. The church is mentioned in the 1542 writings of bishop Diego de Muros who mentions the donations of lands to the church of "...Santiago del Realejo de arriba" becoming for the benefit of the

Taoro {{Short description, Native kingdom of the Canary Islands Taoro was one of nine Guanche menceyatos (native kingdoms) in which the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands) was divided at the time of the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. Taoro was co ...

region. Records from the period no longer exist, but it is believed that in 1496, a simple structure covered with a straw roof was erected, making it the first Christian church on Tenerife. The current door on the north face of the church dates to 1570. Carved by Juan Benítez, it is referred to as the "Jacobean doorway." An inventory of the church from 1591 lists three main altars. The largest held a primitive image of the Apostle James as a pilgrim; the second was of

Bartholomew the Apostle Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2). New Testament references The name ''Bartholomew ...

Benedict of Nursia Benedict of Nursia (; ; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was a Great Church, Christian monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old ...

and

Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua, Order of Friars Minor, OFM, (; ; ) or Anthony of Lisbon (; ; ; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor. ...

. There was also one for

Our Lady of Los Remedios The Virgin of Los Remedios () or Our Lady of Los Remedios (, ) is a title of the Virgin Mary developed by the Trinitarian Order, founded in the late 12th century. The devotion became tied to the ''Reconquista'' of Spain, then still at its heigh ...

. Also listed were paintings of

Saint Sebastian Sebastian (; ) was an early Christianity, Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this d ...

and

Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

. Along with the paintings were numerous pieces of gold and silverware. The inventory also describes a wooden choir, organ and pulpit.

History

The construction of the temple as it stands today since the 17th century. Since the 16th-century building was in a dilapidated state at the beginning of that century, in 1604 the same master who had made the first stonework doorway in 1570, was commissioned to dismantle what became known as the "Old church" and build the new one. The design expanded the single

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and opened the chapels on both sides of the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. Some of the materials from the main chapel were used with new stone would brought from the quarries of . In

1610 Some have suggested that 1610 may mark the beginning of the Anthropocene, or the 'Age of Man', marking a fundamental change in the relationship between humans and the Earth system, but earlier starting dates (ca. 1000 C.E.) have received broa ...

the "nave del Evangelio" (''English: nave of the Gospel'') was completed on the north side of the church, presided over by

Our Lady of the Rosary Our Lady of the Rosary (), also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Titles of Mary, Marian title. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October ...

in her own chapel. What was once the main door to the nave became the entrance to this chapel. The south side of the "nave de la Epístola" (''English: nave of the Epistle'') was completed in 1626. Manuel Penedo, a Portuguese stonemason, demolished the corresponding exterior wall and built the new nave with stone from the quarries of . With the rebuilding of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

in 1667, all remnants of the old church had disappeared. The roof was made with wood from Tigaiga, accentuation the importance of the main nave. It was designed with a cross frame divided into eight frames and covered with

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, al ...

s, and an elongated harness from which two pendants hang. The gold and

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

used to decorate it were the work of the master Andrés Gómez. The roofs of the side chapels were designed similar to the nave, but with greater simplicity. The

church tower Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

situated on the left façade was built in 1774, replacing the original. The tower's

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

is covered in mujedar syle ceramic tile. At the end of the 18th century, what is now the current configuration was completed. It shares the same design characteristics as other churches in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

: three naves of equal height, topped by separate roofs, and covered by traditional mujedar art. The statues of , by sculptor Fernando Estévez, and by Martín de Andújar Cantos are on display in the church. In 1922, because of deterioration, all the stonework in the arches and columns was replaced with new concrete ones featuring ionic

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

. In the 1960s the nave was expanded and two new side chapels were added.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Churches in Tenerife

Background

History

Further reading

See also

References

External links