The old town of Los Silos

Municipality: Los Silos

History

The municipality formed a part of the Menceyato de Daute. After the conquest, it  was occupied by Castilians, Catalans, Extremaduran, Portuguese and Genoeses.

The name of the municipality owes to the underground deposits for cereals that it  was constructed by Gonzalo Yanes (one dealt more rich settlers of the region in the 16th century), taking part in the agrarian development of the zone with the acquisition the ingenuity of  El Adelantado and wide byline of lands.

A house in the old town

In the mediocrities cereals was cultivated (it is still cultivated), whereas on the coast the sugar cane. In the 16th century, the sugar cane already did not take possibilities as a culture of export, for what it was cultivated for the internal market.

In the 17th century, the vineyard occupied the zones dedicated to the cane, but the wine crisis of the 18th century and the abandon of the culture of the malvasías,  the vidueño was generalized (vineyard of the only  variety), followed  by the wheat and potatoes.

In the 19th century, cultures as the wood-louse and the sugar were introduced (that they won´t last very much at the time). In the 20th century the expansion of the banana plantation began turning into the predominant culture of the lower zones.

The street of the old town

The society of the epoch was not possessing schools, scarcely any little ones were those who could read and write (some women and the sacristan were giving classes). The lands were in the hands of big owners and the majority of the population was divided between laborers, dividing and some smallholders. The cereal crises, the plagues of lobsters, Portugal's emancipation, etc, force that there were family emigrations. With the arrival of the banana (new culture and the tourism, it does that the population stops emigrating).

In 1812 the municipality possessed its own Town hall, that after the expropriation of San Bernardo's convent, this one passed to be its  headquarters..

Representative Building

El Casco de los Silos (old town): it was declared in 2004. Its nucleus foundational is located in the environment of the Plaza de la Luz, a place with eclectic airs. Concerning  the square there get up some of the most ancient buildings of the village. Still it can be found the traditional real estate of the 17th century and the XVIIIth, with covers of Arabic tile to three and to four waters, and symmetrical hollows in the fronts.

A house in the core

Parroquia Nuestra Señora de la Luz:  In 1570 Los Silos  would possess its own Church. In its origin, it only was possessing  a ship and the major chapel. It  possesses a Mudejar ceiling of the couple  and knuckle. In 1629 there was constructed the major chapel, which would be reformed in 1680. The construction of both lateral chapels in 1641 completed the temple. In the year 2001 it was finished the reform, which will modify specially its front.

Church

Between the scriptures that the Church possesses, there is the Christ of the Mercy, who is considered to be an Andalusian height of great value and antiquity , position  in an altarpiece - niche manierista. The Master of the Humility and Patience, middle of the 17th century and its altarpiece - niche exemplifies the baroque of return. San Antonio Abbot is an example of the Canary baroque of the 18th century.

Bath

Convento de San Sebastián: San Bernardo's convent of San Sebastian, of the Nuns of San Bernardo. It was declared BIC in 1986. Two landowners were the managers in 1649 by founding the convent. The construction of the building is simple, and in 1698 it was extended due to the contiguous purchase of a few houses. The structure is created from a cloister and court. The employment of poor materials, as the rubble and the tile, they give place to a building of simple forms, though the site is an object of diverse reforms and added during the 20th century, as the incorporation of a great balustrade. The Declared Historical Monument is restored once, and one added a modern tower.

Ex-Convent

On the Coast of Los Silos:

Horno de Cal: They are two ovens destined for the manufacture of lime for agricultural use and as materials of construction. The most ancient dates back to the 19th century (according to oral sources), another one goes to print the date of 1931. It is a question of a simple made building of stone, that it has the hollows of exit of smoke of the bonfires.

Oven

Ingenio de Azúcar: This ingenuity belonged  to Gonzalo Yanez. It relied on a chimney of obsidian, that still it continues. (The ship that is structured next to the chimney corresponds  to a packging company of bananas that constitutes a singular example of the industrial architecture of the 20th century).

The tower is the Ingenio

Caseta del telegrafo (telegraph´s cubicle): It is constructed in 1883 allowing the communication between La Palma and Tenerife across a submarine cable, this shade would shelter the zone of the tie of the cable. With the passage of time and the action of the sea it would  remain closed. In 2001 the restoration was realized. 

The cubicle of the telegraph

We do not owe of forgetting, that in the different core populations of Los Silos it can be visited some samples of Canary architecture.