The town of Tinajo in Lanzarote

Tinajo gained independence from the town of Teguise in 1802 and is the county seat of a municipality that includes agricultural localities of Casas del Islote, El Cuchillo, Casas de Guiguán, Mancha Blanca, La Santa, La Vegueta, Tinguatón and Tajaste. The town has about 6,000 inhabitants, nearly 3,000 for the town of Tinajo.

The main activity of the town’s vegetable and fruit crops, including grapes, fruits, onions, lentils. The National Park Timanfaya and the Natural Park of Los Volcanes attract a part of the tourist trade, especially backpackers. The cultural attractions of the town are mainly the Ermita de la Virgen de los Dolores in Mancha Blanca, which appears in the center of the shield of the city, and the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Regla, in Yuco.

From the capital of the island, Arrecife, is reached Tinajo via the LZ-20 highway, passing through the villages of San Bartolomé and Tiagua. This trip of 20 km takes about half an hour.

Towards the southeast, the LZ-67 road connects Tinajo to Yaiza. At the exit of Tinajo villages Tajaste to Guiguán and Mancha Blanca form an agglomeration continues along the LZ-67 highway.

In 1738 the chapel was enlarged and on 29 June 1792, became the parish church of the Second Ward Lanzarote, created by Antonio Tavira y Almanzán, bishop of the Canary 1791-1796.

In 1800 the building underwent new expansions and improvements, such as building a baptistery on the left side of the church; seen before the baptistery gives the impression that the church has three naves.

The church San Roque has two naves of unequal size; the nave of the Epistle, where the main portal, is broader than the nave of the Gospel. Above the right aisle stands the steeple. The portals of the main facade on the south side and front to the east, are framed with basalt stones and surmounted by a round arch.

Between the roofing of the nave left and baptistery, there is a rare feature: a sundial given by a sailor, occasionally lives in La Vegueta, named RF Fernández. This sundial was made by the sailor in his last trips with his ship; the dial is dated May 20, 1851, but would have been installed at the beginning of the twentieth century; it has two anchors and Arabic numerals, not Roman as was the custom at the time.

Inside, the two naves are separated by arches supported by Tuscan columns; the ceiling is Mudejar, with boxes, intricately carved, whose fields are painted blue and white, aging published gray and ocher.

The Saint-Roch holds works of sacred art of value: a crucifix attributed to the famous sculptor canary José Luján Pérez; a wooden statue of the Virgen de la Candelaria, the right of the altar, and a "Saint Joseph with the Child (San José con el Niño)," to the left of the altarpiece, attributed to the sculptor Fernando Estévez; these sculptures are dated 1827. Fernando Estévez (1788-1854), a native of Tenerife, is the author of the Virgen de la Candelaria (Virgen de la Candelaria) in Candelaria on the island of Tenerife; he was a disciple of Luján Pérez (1756-1815), a native of Gran Canaria. Both sculptors have permanently marked the religious art of the Canary Islands.

The effigy of Our Lady of Sorrows, patron saint of Lanzarote, which is now housed in the church of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores in Mancha Blanca, came from the Saint-Roch church Tinajo.

The Saint-Roch church is located on the Plaza de San Roque, in the village center of Tinajo; in front of the main facade of the church is a famous dragon tree (Dracaena draco).

The village benefits from a huge sports complex, the Club La Santa, located on the island of La Isleta connected to the mainland by two dikes; although only part of the ambitious initial project was carried out, this club offers sports facilities for twenty Olympic sports or not, as an Olympic pool, athletics stadium, tennis courts, squash courts, badminton, football, handball, volleyball and so on. The artificial basin situated between the two dams used to drive windsurfers. Once a year - usually in May - a "triathlon Ironman” is organized in Puerto del Carmen; it consists of 3.8 km swimming in the sea, 180 km cycling and a marathon.

Professional athletes flock here for their winter maintenance. The club also hosts many sports tourists, especially Scandinavians.

Phone: 00 34 928 599 999

Site on the Web: www.clublasanta.com

Line 52, of La Santa in Los Valles, and the line 53, of La Santa in Teguise, stop Tinajo.

Site on the Web: intercitybuslanzarote.es