Thursday, November 30, 2006
Meeting of Saints in Tenerife
Garachico's celebration this year of the 400th Anniversary of devotion to the saint, San Roque, protector against plagues, has served as an excuse to bring together an exhibition of protecting and healing saints that are venerated in the Canary Islands.
The exhibition, which is open until Sunday, contains 56 pieces of iconography.
San Roque (Saint Roch), San Sebastián (Saint Sebastian) and San Lázaro (Saint Lazarus) are the three healing saints (Holy Helpers) most venerated in the Canary Islands and images of the three are found all over the archipelago. However, there is a prevalence above all others for San Roque in Garachico, which arrived in the municipality after an epidemic of plague between 1600 and 1606.
The figure of the saint that has been venerated in Garachico for four centuries provides the focal point of the exhibition, Roque de Montpellier, along with iconography of the various "saints of the plague", figures of San Roque from all around the islands and of other, associated, guardians of health.
The exhibition has received 7,000 visitors since it opened on October 20th, which is a record number, given that it is outside the usual cultural circuit. It remains open until Sunday, at Garachico's Convento de San Francisco (Former Franciscan Convent).
(Photo: Town Hall and Plaza Glorieta de San Francisco in Garachico dressed for the Fiestas de San Roque in Garachico, in August. The entrance to the Convento de San Francisco and the exhibition is through the arched door in the yellow building on the left. This is a museum, open to the public, and is well worth visiting at any time, if only to see the gorgeous architecture, stone floors and its heartwood cloisters.)
Reunión de santos en Tenerife
The exhibition, which is open until Sunday, contains 56 pieces of iconography.
San Roque (Saint Roch), San Sebastián (Saint Sebastian) and San Lázaro (Saint Lazarus) are the three healing saints (Holy Helpers) most venerated in the Canary Islands and images of the three are found all over the archipelago. However, there is a prevalence above all others for San Roque in Garachico, which arrived in the municipality after an epidemic of plague between 1600 and 1606.
The figure of the saint that has been venerated in Garachico for four centuries provides the focal point of the exhibition, Roque de Montpellier, along with iconography of the various "saints of the plague", figures of San Roque from all around the islands and of other, associated, guardians of health.
The exhibition has received 7,000 visitors since it opened on October 20th, which is a record number, given that it is outside the usual cultural circuit. It remains open until Sunday, at Garachico's Convento de San Francisco (Former Franciscan Convent).
(Photo: Town Hall and Plaza Glorieta de San Francisco in Garachico dressed for the Fiestas de San Roque in Garachico, in August. The entrance to the Convento de San Francisco and the exhibition is through the arched door in the yellow building on the left. This is a museum, open to the public, and is well worth visiting at any time, if only to see the gorgeous architecture, stone floors and its heartwood cloisters.)
Reunión de santos en Tenerife
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