IGLESIA DE SAN JUAN BAUTISTA

Villa de San Juan de la Rambla
- Arquitectura Religiosa. Iglesias -

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The origin of the religious architecture in San Juan de La Rambla dates back to 1530, the year in which the construction of the first hermitage, where the church of San Juan Bautista is located, begins. This type of temples have been built slowly for more than four centuries with the effort of the inhabitants of the town, creating a simple constructive style according to their possibilities.

The church was built thanks to the initiative of the early settlers, especially Mart n Rodr guez, a Portuguese villager who built a large hacienda near the Barranco de San Juan, and who is believed to have started the idea to build a hermitage, also financed the main expenses for its construction. In order to carry it out, the collaboration of the neighbors was also necessary to the extent possible. These erected the primitive Hermitage of San Juan.

With the passage of time and the help of the parishioners, the cofrad as and the successive chaplains, extensions were made until giving rise to the current Church. The first extension was carried out between 1553 and 1558, this was thanks to the progressive increase of the population, arising the need for independence of the parishes of the Realejo. In this time it was given a double functionality, on the one hand it had a main chapel where masses were promulgated every Sunday and saving parties; and on the other hand, there are three or four rows of graves, the largest of them belonging to the founder of the hermitage.

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Over four and a half centuries the original hermitage of San Juan Bautista has evolved, this has been possible through the participation of parishioners. The Church of San Juan Bautista presents the typical characteristics of the traditional Canarian houses, a temple composed of two naves, the main one wider than the other, with presbytery and collateral chapels in a quadrangular form; It also has attached external units belonging to the guilds. In its interior the different ships and chapels are divided with molded half-point arches supported by Tuscan columns of canter a with square bases. It is a ship with only one floor, although inside it has a wooden structure that was built to place both the organ and the choir in the West, on the main entrance of the property.

The slabs of the original floor are not conserved, which consists in the fact that it was first made of mud, then of stone and is currently made of modern materials.

From the outside you can see facades of great constructive simplicity. Highlight the two arches located on the main facade that give access to the central buildings, these border the two solid wood doors with cassettes.

In the north corner the bell tower stands out, it is the most characteristic element of the building. It is made with stone in one of its faces and in the other it has an exterior plaster coating, which simulates the lines of the stone. It is composed of three body ...