The mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, met this Friday with the general director of Fine Arts of the Ministry of Culture, Isaac Sastre de Diego, to close the procedure by which three million will be transferred for the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Masonic temple that appears in an item from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Culture.
Thus, through a nominative grant, the Cultural Heritage Institute of Spain will be in charge of carrying out the delivery operation to the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council.
Bermúdez stressed that the necessary steps continue to be taken and the technical and administrative specifications are already being drafted with the aim of putting the works out to tender in the next month of March or April and with the idea “of starting the rehabilitation works of this unique building in Europe before the end of the year”.
With this financing from the State, almost all of what was budgeted in the project’s technical report would be covered, he comments in a note.
This budget item is the result of a direct negotiation between the mayor and the Vice President of the Government of the Canary Islands and Minister of Economy and Finance, Román Rodríguez, who conveyed to the representative of his party (Nueva Canarias) in the Congress of Deputies the advisability of presenting of an amendment for this amount to include it in the General State Budget for 2022, which was approved in the processing of the Government’s accounts.
“This building is the only example of Masonic architecture in Spain, built in 1904, and it is destined to become a building that, once reformed, will be a major attraction for residents and visitors, and an indisputable pole of attraction. for the European and international Masonic community”, advances the mayor.
TOURIST CLAIM
In addition, it specifies that “in the world there are more than 6 million Freemasons and in the United Kingdom alone the number exceeds 200,000, which will undoubtedly give this emblematic building an indisputable power of attraction for a good number of tourists”.
The mayor took advantage of his stay in Madrid to meet with Jesús Soriano Carrillo, 33rd Sovereign Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree and last of the ancient Scottish rite, with whom he discussed different aspects of the lodge in the capital of Tenerife and “the positive consequences that will have the rehabilitation of this jewel of the heritage of Santa Cruz, both for the Freemasonry of this city and for the members of all of Europe and the world, precisely because of the uniqueness of this construction”.
The works projected by the architect María Nieves Febles in the Masonic temple of Santa Cruz will focus on the symbolic and material recovery of the Masonic lodge, taking into account its BIC category, in addition to adapting and making the new uses compatible with the heritage character of the building, contemplating, in addition, the recovery of the spatial and iconographic configuration of the spaces of greatest symbolism, such as the Meeting Room and the Agape Room.
To this end, the drafting team contemplates incorporating current construction techniques, in spaces of new creation or of symbolic interest, whose resolution is more advantageous for the final resolution, for which it is added that the spaces will be resolved allowing the public use of the building , according to the regulations in force, accessibility (elevator), fire regulations, structural adaptation to new or future uses and incorporating the necessary facilities, “without distorting the original image, nor being aggressive in terms of its expression, remaining as much camouflaged possible”, says the architect.
