Plaza del Príncipe de Asturias

Plaza del Príncipe de Asturias is the most romantic square in Santa Cruz and a favourite meeting place for locals for over 160 years. More garden than square: raised above street level, with entrances up steps and enclosed by stone walls. The land belonged to the Franciscan monastery of San Pedro de Alcántara and was its garden (huerta). During the desamortización (confiscation of church properties) in the mid-19th century the city decided to create a public square here.

In 1857 the Ayuntamiento formally purchased the plot for 47,140 reales de vellón. 12,000 rvn were missing: three of the wealthiest residents (Ramón Mandillo, Isidro Guimerá and José García-Ramos) lent the sum interest-free. On 7 December 1857 a company of firefighters demolished the wall. At the ceremony the civil governor announced the birth of the Prince of Asturias, the future Alfonso XII, and hung a plaque with the name on a tree. During the September Revolution of 1868 the square was briefly renamed 'Alameda de la Libertad', but the name did not stick and chicharreros returned to 'Plaza del Príncipe'. The project was by city architect Manuel de Oraá y Arcocha. Opening: 29 October 1860.

In 1864 Captain Domingo Seris Granier brought Indian laurels (ficus) from Cuba, which still provide shade across the entire square today. They are among the oldest trees in the city. In 1866 Manuel García Calveras donated two allegorical sculptures in Carrara marble: Spring (Primavera) and Summer (Verano). An ornamental iron fountain stood in the centre from 1871. In 1929 it was replaced by an octagonal music pavilion (templete), where the Santa Cruz municipal band still plays. In 1994 the sculptural group 'Coraje' (Courage) by Dutch artist Hanneke Beaumont was installed: bronze and steel, four human figures in two groups facing each other. In 2014 a life-size monument to Enrique González Bethencourt was unveiled, founder of the legendary murga Ni Fú-Ni Fá and icon of Santa Cruz Carnival, made in the Bronzo workshop in La Laguna.

The square has enchanted famous visitors. Jules Leclercq, the Belgian writer and author of 'Journey to the Fortunate Islands' (1879), wrote: 'Behind the church of San Francisco is a passage that has no equal anywhere.' Fernando María de Baviera, accompanying Alfonso XIII during his 1906 visit, simply called it 'La plaza bonita'.

Next door stands the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes (Calle José Murphy 12): free admission, in a classicist building from 1929 (architect Eladio Laredo). The museum's roots go back to 1840, when the city stored in boxes the battle flags captured from Admiral Nelson's fleet in 1797. The façade features 10 busts of famous Tinerfeños sculpted by Compañ (1932): Ángel Guimerá, Antonio de Viana, Valentín Sanz and others. 14 rooms with paintings from Flemish 16th century to 20th: the Triptych of Nava y Grimón by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, San Andrés by Ribera, Orpheus by Jan Brueghel the Elder, portrait of Isabella II by Federico de Madrazo, works by Sorolla and Canarian painters. The museum also holds works on loan from the Prado Museum in Madrid. Next door: the church of San Francisco and the Capilla de la Venerable Orden Tercera (1763, baroque altarpiece, frescoes).