THE ORIENTATION OF COLONIAL CHURCHES OF THE GRAN CANARIA BIOSPHERE RESERVE

Abstract

We present the results of a study of the precise spatial orientation of 44 colonial churches and chapels located in the Biosphere Reserve of Gran Canaria (Spain). We analyze whether these orientations respond to calendrical coincidences related to patron saint festivities or to topographical features in the landscape, or whether they follow the ancient tradition of pointing churches’ apses eastward. Our results show that 40% of these buildings orient their axes within the solar range and, among these, a significant proportion of churches point their axes toward solstitial declinations, especially toward the northern hemisphere summer solstice. This result marks a difference with respect to the orientation patterns already studied on the other main islands of the Canary archipelago and could suggest the existence of a pattern imitating pre-Hispanic aboriginal worship.