Monastery of Santa Clara de Asís - La Laguna

The Monastery of Santa Clara was the first women's monastery in the Canary Islands and was founded with nuns from Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Between 1547 and 1577 the nuns settled in the nearby Franciscan convent of San Miguel de las Victorias , but in 1575 Olalla Fonte del Castillo became a benefactor of the order because he wanted three of his daughters to join the Order, and he took it took upon himself to build a monastery and church for the Poor Clares. On December 21, 1577 they took possession of the monastery.

A fire in 1697 destroyed much of the building , which was rebuilt and opened for worship in 1700 . The monastery building in its current form dates from the 18th century . It has two large courtyards following the characteristic typology of the cloisters of the Canary Islands, based on wooden galleries. There is also a third open space, narrow and at the back, which has the same characteristics as the previous one.

Notable on the exterior is the Mudejar style stained glass window or belvedere , which dates from 1717. The church has a single nave with a rectangular presbytery accessed through a semicircular arch. Of particular artistic interest is the roof of the main chapel , an octagonal framework of Mudejar influence. In the battlements there is a relief of gilded carvings from the first quarter of the 18th century, depicting Saint Francis and Saint Clare.

After the restoration carried out by the government and the community itself, an important part of the monastery has served as the headquarters of the Santa Clara de Asís Museum since 2013.

Willem Vandenameele