Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna
- Autores
- Gangui, Alejandro; Belmonte, Juan Antonio
- Año de publicación
- 2018
- Idioma
- inglés
- Tipo de recurso
- artículo
- Estado
- versión publicada
- Descripción
- The city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Island of Tenerife (Spain) is of exceptional value as the first unfortified colonial city to follow regular plan - a grid, outlined by straight streets that form squares - in the overseas European expansion. It constitutes a historical example of the so-called "Town of Peace", the archetype of a city-republic in a new land that employed its own natural boundaries to delimit and defend itself. Founded in 1496, the historical centre of the old city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 (UNESCO World Heritage Committee, n.d.). We analyse the exact spatial orientation of 21 historic Christian churches currently existing in the old part of La Laguna, which we take as a good indicator of the original layout of the urban lattice. We find a clear orientation pattern that, if correlated with the rising or setting Sun, singles out an absolute-value astronomical declination slightly below 20°, which, within the margin of error of our study, might be associated with the 25th July feast day of San Cristóbal de Licia, the saint to whom the town was originally dedicated. We also discuss at some length some recent proposals which invoke somewhat far-fetched hypotheses for the planimetry of the old city and conclude with some comments on one of its outstanding features, namely its Latin-cross structure, which is apparent in the combined layout of some of its most emblematic churches.
Fil: Gangui, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentina
Fil: Belmonte, Juan Antonio. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias; España - Materia
-
ARCHAEOASTRONOMY
CULTURAL ASTRONOMY
ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION OF MONUMENTS
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE - Nivel de accesibilidad
- acceso abierto
- Condiciones de uso
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
- Repositorio
- Institución
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
- OAI Identificador
- oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/80660
Ver los metadatos del registro completo
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Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La LagunaGangui, AlejandroBelmonte, Juan AntonioARCHAEOASTRONOMYCULTURAL ASTRONOMYASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION OF MONUMENTSUNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITEhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.3https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6The city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Island of Tenerife (Spain) is of exceptional value as the first unfortified colonial city to follow regular plan - a grid, outlined by straight streets that form squares - in the overseas European expansion. It constitutes a historical example of the so-called "Town of Peace", the archetype of a city-republic in a new land that employed its own natural boundaries to delimit and defend itself. Founded in 1496, the historical centre of the old city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 (UNESCO World Heritage Committee, n.d.). We analyse the exact spatial orientation of 21 historic Christian churches currently existing in the old part of La Laguna, which we take as a good indicator of the original layout of the urban lattice. We find a clear orientation pattern that, if correlated with the rising or setting Sun, singles out an absolute-value astronomical declination slightly below 20°, which, within the margin of error of our study, might be associated with the 25th July feast day of San Cristóbal de Licia, the saint to whom the town was originally dedicated. We also discuss at some length some recent proposals which invoke somewhat far-fetched hypotheses for the planimetry of the old city and conclude with some comments on one of its outstanding features, namely its Latin-cross structure, which is apparent in the combined layout of some of its most emblematic churches.Fil: Gangui, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Belmonte, Juan Antonio. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias; EspañaEquinox Publishing Ltd2018-08info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/80660Gangui, Alejandro; Belmonte, Juan Antonio; Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna; Equinox Publishing Ltd; Journal of Skyscape Archaeology; 4; 1; 8-2018; 6-252055-3498CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1558/jsa.34336info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T09:47:48Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/80660instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 09:47:49.279CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna |
title |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna |
spellingShingle |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna Gangui, Alejandro ARCHAEOASTRONOMY CULTURAL ASTRONOMY ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION OF MONUMENTS UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE |
title_short |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna |
title_full |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna |
title_fullStr |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna |
title_full_unstemmed |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna |
title_sort |
Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna |
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Gangui, Alejandro Belmonte, Juan Antonio |
author |
Gangui, Alejandro |
author_facet |
Gangui, Alejandro Belmonte, Juan Antonio |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Belmonte, Juan Antonio |
author2_role |
author |
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
ARCHAEOASTRONOMY CULTURAL ASTRONOMY ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION OF MONUMENTS UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE |
topic |
ARCHAEOASTRONOMY CULTURAL ASTRONOMY ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION OF MONUMENTS UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE |
purl_subject.fl_str_mv |
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.3 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6 |
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv |
The city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Island of Tenerife (Spain) is of exceptional value as the first unfortified colonial city to follow regular plan - a grid, outlined by straight streets that form squares - in the overseas European expansion. It constitutes a historical example of the so-called "Town of Peace", the archetype of a city-republic in a new land that employed its own natural boundaries to delimit and defend itself. Founded in 1496, the historical centre of the old city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 (UNESCO World Heritage Committee, n.d.). We analyse the exact spatial orientation of 21 historic Christian churches currently existing in the old part of La Laguna, which we take as a good indicator of the original layout of the urban lattice. We find a clear orientation pattern that, if correlated with the rising or setting Sun, singles out an absolute-value astronomical declination slightly below 20°, which, within the margin of error of our study, might be associated with the 25th July feast day of San Cristóbal de Licia, the saint to whom the town was originally dedicated. We also discuss at some length some recent proposals which invoke somewhat far-fetched hypotheses for the planimetry of the old city and conclude with some comments on one of its outstanding features, namely its Latin-cross structure, which is apparent in the combined layout of some of its most emblematic churches. Fil: Gangui, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentina Fil: Belmonte, Juan Antonio. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias; España |
description |
The city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Island of Tenerife (Spain) is of exceptional value as the first unfortified colonial city to follow regular plan - a grid, outlined by straight streets that form squares - in the overseas European expansion. It constitutes a historical example of the so-called "Town of Peace", the archetype of a city-republic in a new land that employed its own natural boundaries to delimit and defend itself. Founded in 1496, the historical centre of the old city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 (UNESCO World Heritage Committee, n.d.). We analyse the exact spatial orientation of 21 historic Christian churches currently existing in the old part of La Laguna, which we take as a good indicator of the original layout of the urban lattice. We find a clear orientation pattern that, if correlated with the rising or setting Sun, singles out an absolute-value astronomical declination slightly below 20°, which, within the margin of error of our study, might be associated with the 25th July feast day of San Cristóbal de Licia, the saint to whom the town was originally dedicated. We also discuss at some length some recent proposals which invoke somewhat far-fetched hypotheses for the planimetry of the old city and conclude with some comments on one of its outstanding features, namely its Latin-cross structure, which is apparent in the combined layout of some of its most emblematic churches. |
publishDate |
2018 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2018-08 |
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/11336/80660 Gangui, Alejandro; Belmonte, Juan Antonio; Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna; Equinox Publishing Ltd; Journal of Skyscape Archaeology; 4; 1; 8-2018; 6-25 2055-3498 CONICET Digital CONICET |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11336/80660 |
identifier_str_mv |
Gangui, Alejandro; Belmonte, Juan Antonio; Urban Planning in the First Unfortified Spanish Colonial Town: The Orientation of the Historic Churches of San Cristóbal de La Laguna; Equinox Publishing Ltd; Journal of Skyscape Archaeology; 4; 1; 8-2018; 6-25 2055-3498 CONICET Digital CONICET |
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1558/jsa.34336 |
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Equinox Publishing Ltd |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Equinox Publishing Ltd |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET) instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
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CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
collection |
CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
instname_str |
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
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CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar |
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1842268883322404864 |
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13.13397 |