Iglesia de la Concepción

The Iglesia de la Concepción is the oldest church in Tenerife, founded in 1497 in the first years of Spanish colonisation. The building that stands today is largely 16th and 17th century, with the characteristic wooden mudéjar ceiling — a Moorish-influenced style of artesanado carpentry — that is one of the most beautiful examples of its kind in the Canaries. The coffered ceiling panels are painted and gilded, a remarkable survival from the early colonial period.

The church also contains important carved and painted altarpieces, processional statues of great quality, and the baptismal font that tradition says was used to baptise indigenous Guanche converts in the early colonial period. The building is a designated national monument. It stands at the lower end of the historic centre on the Calle San Agustín, with the tower visible from much of the city.

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A story
The church's tower is one of the most photographed features in La Laguna — a five-tiered structure built in the late 17th century that became the visual signature of the city. During the brief British occupation of Tenerife in 1797, when Admiral Horatio Nelson led an ill-fated raid on Santa Cruz and lost his right arm to a cannon shot, the captured British colours were hung from this tower as trophies. They were later moved to the Naval Museum in Madrid.