In the year 1588, the Cremonese engineer Leonardo Torriani drew what is known as the first plan of the city of San Cristobal de La Laguna. Next to the characteristic urban grid, the one that served as a model for the foundation of new cities in America and that is considered a World Heritage Site by Unesco, is the great lagoon that would give its name to the new population.
The City Council of La Laguna, in collaboration with the mixed company Teidagua, the Insular Water Council of Tenerife, the Department of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands and Gestur, has begun a process to recover that old wetland. In addition to functioning as a hydrological infrastructure for flood control, a space for biodiversity and a recreation area, the park “will once again reconnect La Laguna with its history”, as Mayor Luis Yeray Gutiérrez pointed out at the presentation of the This space, which will be located on a 30,000-square-meter plot in La Vega Lagunera, precisely in the same location where the old lagoon was located.
“This is a project that connects us with our history, with our reason for being. We recovered part of the old wetland that gave our city its name and shaped our idiosyncrasy. That lagoon that Torriani mapped and that in a certain way, the lagoons have always longed for, because it is part of our identity and our heritage”, assured Luis Yeray Gutiérrez.
In the publication Brief and incomplete history of the old lake in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, edited in 2002 by the Municipal Department of Historical Heritage, Constantino Criado Hernández, tenured professor of Physical Geography at the University of La Laguna, makes a detailed research on the wetland and its evolution over the centuries.
“When the Castilians arrived at the flat of the lagoon, they found a lake, maintained until spring, with an important possibly wintering bird life, surrounded by a thick forest, in which laurels and vines stood out, together with elements of laurel”, he recounts. in this work.
Precisely Professor Criado Hernández was one of the promoters, together with the Neighborhood Association of the Historic Center, of the document Proposal for a Theme Park in the space occupied by the old lagoon. Jardín de La Laguna, in which the idea of recovering the old lagoon was already being considered, although without introducing the hydraulic function contemplated in the current project. Said document proposed the creation of a botanical garden with the plant species that occupied the area of the lagoon before human transformation, a bird observatory and an interpretation center with information related to the old lagoon. Many of these ideas have been incorporated into the project prepared by the Teidagua mixed company, which adds an unquestionable environmental value.
According to Professor Criado’s research, at the time of the conquest the wetland of the lagoon was home to birds typical of these ecosystems, such as herons and ducks, while the laurel forests abounded in turquoise doves and turtledoves. “The richness of the lagoon’s fauna is a feature that will last at least until the 18th century and we believe that the presence of a significant number of bird species can be deduced,” he points out. One of the objectives of the flood park is to recover a good part of that biodiversity.
“In the 16th century, the deforestation of the surroundings of the fertile plain is an inseparable fact from the founding of the city. Grazing, the need to have energy resources and construction materials, as well as the cultivation of large areas of land in the San Lázaro area favor the acceleration of soil erosion”. Throughout this century, the natural landscape has been giving way to agricultural land, “with the retreat of the forest, delimitation of meadows, plowing of farmland and the maintenance of the lagoon as a natural water reservoir for working cattle”. maintains Professor Criado.
During the 17th century, the process of silting up the bottom of the primitive lagoon continued. Fray Andrés Abreu cites the lake as a “swamp”. There is a popular belief that the friars living in the convent of San Diego del Monte crossed the lagoon by boat to reach the city, according to the story of Olivia Stone, but Professor Criado considers that it is a legend that lacks foundation logical.
Historical documents confirm the existence of the lagoon until well into the 18th century. Around 1770 the lake seems to have disappeared, being reduced to small discontinuous marshes that formed during the winter months. “A good number of lagoon people have always believed that the lagoon disappeared due to artificial drying carried out in 1837,” says Constantino Criado in his study, who rather defends the idea that what was attempted at that time was not the disappearance of the lake, “but to improve the drainage and prevent a repeat of floods like the one described by Berthelot after the hurricane of 1826”.
“Once this survey is done, a ditch will be excavated, which links the original outlet channel with the Camino Largo, the orchards of Silverio Alonso, the orchards located between the Camino de San Diego and Lucas Vega, ending near the square by Manuel Verdugo. With these latest works, the lake definitely becomes part of the folklore of the city. However, occasionally, heavy rains, causing floods such as those of April 1977, have come to remind us of where our historic lake was located”, Professor Criado concludes his research. Precisely in that place, La Laguna wants to rediscover its history with the creation of a floodable park.
