Artistic HERITAGE
The rich heritage of the church of Santo Domingo is a living testimony to the faith of a people. Its history through the centuries is a reflection of the local culture and devotion, which dates back to 1530. A tour will show us how faith, tradition and artistic heritage go hand in hand to the delight of its visitors.
The Church of Santo Domingo houses one of the greatest artistic treasures of painting, altarpieces and sculpture in the Canary Islands.
Its Paintings.
The Flemish merchants and landowners who settled on La Palma, with their peculiar devotions and artistic tastes, managed, through the sugar trade, to bring to La Palma from the main cities of Flanders and Brabant a collection of marvellous paintings that are still preserved today.
The Canary Islands’ finest collection of Flemish painting is to be found in the Church of Santo Domingo, where you can see works by: Ambrosius Francken and Pieter Pourbus.
You can also see one of the best and first pieces of Mexican painting preserved in the Canary Islands, the Virgin of Guadalupe (currently being restored), as well as the oldest pictorial ex-voto in Spain (1621) and a representation of the painting of La Palma with the painting of the Virgin of La Merced by Juan Manuel de Silva (1687-1751).
Its Altarpieces
Santo Domingo has clear examples of typical Canarian altarpieces, such as:
The altarpiece of the main altar is one of the most beautiful and complete in the Canary Islands, a clear example of Baroque with Solomonic columns, and was built by Juan Lorenzo García (1703).
In the Chapel of the Rosary we can see a clear example of a niche altarpiece, built in 1660 by Andrés del Rosario and his son Lorenzo de Campos.
Its Sculptures
The sculptural heritage of the Church of Santo Domingo stands out for the devotional images that it treasures, the most outstanding being:
The baroque carvings of San Miguel Triunfante SXVIII (patron saint of the old monastery and of the island) by the Dominican sculptor Fray Marcos Gil, San Joaquin (XVIII century) and San Francisco de Asis (XVII century).
The sculptures by the prestigious and famous sculptor Fernando Estévez: El Nazareno, La Magna and La Virgen del Rosario.
The most recent: the image of the Cristo de La Columna and Ntra. Sra. de la Esperanza by the Sevillian sculptor Andrés Falcón San José.
Its Roofs
The church of Santo Domingo has splendid Mudejar roofs, decorated with lacquerwork, which is displayed on all the skirts.
Their dazzling polychromy, based on carved and gilded rosettes, floral motifs and themes inspired by Renaissance grotesque, are a living testimony to the splendour of yesteryear.