La Villa de la Orotava: Stately, Monumental and Unique
The city of Villa de la Orotava covers 218 sq km of the impressive Orotava valley and is divided into various demographic centres. The old part of the town, which was declared a Monument of National, Historical and Artistic Interest in 1976, is worth a leisurely and thorough visit, enabling us to contemplate the various styles of its architecture, distinguished by its magnificence and monumentality.
Among mansions, squares and Canarian courtyards, its streets have a distinctive aristocratic atmosphere, highlighted by their attractive personality.
In the very centre of the old part, at the heart of the town, you’ll find the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (a national monument), offering a rich display of various artistic styles. La Villa de la Orotava was once part of the old Taoro Menceyato, one of nine indigenous kingdoms into which the Island of Tenerife had been divided until the year 1496, when the conquest of the island was completed. From then on, the conqueror Alonso Fernandez de Lugo initiated the distribution of the land and water resources among the beneficiaries of the conquest, which caused many conflicts due to vested interests in a territory characterized by the fertility of its soil and the abundance of its waters.
Just as in the case of the islands of Gran Canaria and La Palma, many beneficiaries of the distribution of the lands of the Taoro brought their complaints before the Court, accusing the Adelantado (Governor) of irregularities in the distributions established by him. Due to the magnitude of the situation, Ferdinand the Catholic entrusted Lope de Sosa, Governor of Gran Canaria, with the mission of inspecting the consequences of a distribution which had not only been detrimental to the majority of the beneficiaries, but had also given rise to the absence of town planning in the original configuration of La Orotava.
After analyzing the facts, Ferdinand the Catholic appointed Juan Ortiz de Zárate Distributing Judge. The latter, having submitted to trial the distribution made by the Adelantado and taken statements from the accused, corrected certain irregularities by expropriating those lands which had not been occupied. His most important undertaking was the planning of an urban space that would endow the growing village of Orotava with identity, this being one of the most urgent demands of its first inhabitants.
