Basilica Nuestra Señora de Candelaria

On the night of 1789, fire erased the older church that stood here. The tragedy mattered because the devotion behind it did not. The sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de Candelaria—the Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands and a black Madonna—had already been claimed by centuries of worship, so the loss only intensified the push to rebuild. Before there was any basilica, the story begins with a discovery. In 1390, Candelaria was a quiet place used by Guanche herders from the menceyato of Güímar. One evening, two natives guiding cattle found goats refusing to go to the ravine mouth; they investigated and discovered, on a rock, the statue later known as the Virgin of Candelaria. The statue was first taken to the cave of Chinguaro, the palace of the Güímar king, and later moved to the cave of Achbinico in Candelaria, where it was venerated. At first, the Guanches identified the figure with Chaxiraxi, the mother of the gods; later, Christian conquerors identified it with the Virgin Mary. Not long after, a chapel was built, and that cave became a cemetery for Christian devotees.

From royal protection to a “minor basilica”

The sanctuary gained political protection in 1596, when Philip II of Spain was declared protector of the Virgin of Candelaria.