The orientation of historic churches in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and its surroundings: preliminary results

Abstract

We present preliminary results of the analysis of the precise spatial orientation of colonial Christian churches located in the city of Las Palmas, capital of the island of Gran Canaria (Spain), and its surroundings. Our sample consists of 27 churches, 15 of which belong to the city proper while the rest are situated within roughly 12 km away inland. Most of these churches were constructed between the first decades after the Castilian conquest of the island, and the end of the 19th century. In our analysis we examine whether these orientations respond to calendrical coincidences, to the main features of the landscape, or whether the standard tradition was followed regarding the orientation of the churches' apses eastwards. We find that no church in the sample is oriented towards points of the horizon on which the Sun rises on the day of the patronal feasts. Furthermore, we find no correlation between the global orientation pattern and the orography of the island which, near the local prominent Guiniguada ravine, could have been an important factor at the time of the construction of the churches. What we do find is that most of the orientations fit within the solar range, mainly to the east but also with a few historic churches oriented towards the west, while less than 20% have astronomical declinations outside of this range. In the statistical analysis, the declination histogram for the sample shows a pattern where the apses of the churches point consistently to the north of due east. This might signal constructions that were oriented to the rising Sun on dates close to Easter. We briefly discuss the implications these findings may have for a future study of the rest of Gran Canaria, which includes several dozens of historic churches scattered throughout the valleys, slopes, and volcanic calderas of the island.