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ARCHITECTURE

 

Most of the island's religious architecture is comprised of the churches and sanctuaries erected in its different population centres, and which give testimony of the incorporation of the clearly Franciscan religious traditions of the conquerors and colonisers.

 

 

 

CHURCH OF NUESTRA SEÑORA DE  ANTIGUA

 

In the 17th century the village of La Antigua was already an important population centre, with a small sanctuary that dated back to the 16th century. On 24 February 1600, Nicolás Martínez de Tejada ordered the enlargement of the sanctuary. Around that time a series of master builders and stoneworkers had arrived in the island and were working in the reconstruction of the town after its destruction at the hands of Berber pirates in 1593.

 

Some of these craftsmen participated in the extension works for the church, which included the construction of a vestry and the arches of the main altar, carried out around 1615. Between 1625 and 1629 the barbican was built around the complex (since disappeared). The bell tower was built in the 18th century.

 

 

 

 

SAN BUENAVENTURA MONASTERY CHURCH

 

The founding of the Franciscan monastery was authorised by Pope Benedictine XIII in 1416. However, it would appear that construction was delayed as in 1423 Friar Juan de Baeza obtained another authorisation from Pope Martino V, under which the faithful who helped, through their donations, with the construction of the monastery were awarded indulgences.

 

With the arrival of Friar Diego de Alcalá, construction of the monastery gained impulse and later, around 1454-55, it was enlarged upon the wishes of the Lord and Lady of the island, Diego García de Herrera and Inés Peraza. In the 17th century it was rebuilt and the monastery church was extended. The walls of the church still stand today, whilst the only remains that have been conserved of the monastery are the foundations and the monk's cells.

 

 

 

LA ENTALLADA LIGHTHOUSE

 

The islands Lighting Plan, approved by Royal Order in March 1921, included lighting the islands coastlines, as well as the construction of a lighthouse at Punta de la Entallada, the place that marks the narrowest passage between the Canary Islands archipelago and the African coast. The engineer Carlos Alcón drafted the plans for the lighthouse, and construction was completed in 1953. On 3 December 1954 it was turned on for the first time.

 

La Entallada lighthouse is the last lighthouse to be built on the island following the classic conception of an inhabited lighthouse, a simple building well integrated in the landscape, with its masonry walls revealing the stonework midst the white rendering, the red ashlars on the corners, the footing and frames around the door and windows. An 11-metre central tower sustains the aero-maritime lamp with its 3-metre diameter dome.

 

 

 

 

LIME FURNACES

 

The use of lime in Fuerteventura goes back, at least, the 17th century, but it was at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century that it came into its own and a large number of lime furnaces were built. These furnaces burned the limestone, the raw material that produces lime.

 

There are two types of furnaces: the domestic furnaces, which are conical and are built of stone rendered with clay; they produced intermittently and used bushes (gorse, sweet cedar and others) as fuel, and the “industrial” furnaces, constructed with masonry, which are found in various shapes (square, cylindrical, rectangular, etc.). These furnaces produce two kinds of lime, one more suitable for using with mortar for rendering, and another finer lime, used in whitewash.

 

 

 

CALETA DE FUSTE FORTRESS-CASTLE

 

The castle is called Torre de San Buenaventura or the Castle of Caleta de Fustes. The engineer Claudio de Lisle drew up the plans and it was constructed in the 18th century. It is located in Caleta de Fuste, in the municipaity of La Antigua, and it was built to defend this area of the coastline, a bay with calm waters and easy access for boats.

 

The tower is circular, built in stone and is very robust. The access to the fortification is via a stone staircase on which a drawbridge rests that rotates on the doorjambs of the entrance, closing the access and isolating the tower.

 

 

 

 

WINDMILLS

 

The windmills for milling grain in Fuerteventura are of two distinct kinds: the “molino” (masculine grammatical gender) and the “molina” (feminine grammatical gender), both of which are found widely, particularly in the central north area. The “molino” first appeared in Fuertevenura at the end of the 18th century, beginning of the 19th. It is a stone masonry, clay and lime whitewashed building, with a conical circular shape, crowned by a wooden screw that is turned by a helm, orienting the blades to the wind. It comprises two or three storeys. On the bottom floor the implements used by the miller were stored, and in the “middle room”, the grain was gathered, whilst the top floor houses the milling mechanism.

 

The other kind of windmill, the “molina” is more modern and was invented by Isidoro Ortega, from Santa Cruz de La Palma, in the 19th century. This windmill has the advantage over the “molino” in that all the grain manipulation and milling processes are carried out on one floor, thus eliminating need to go up and down stairs, loaded with heavy sacks of grain.

 

 

 

 

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