The City Council of La Laguna will create in this mandate its own body dedicated to the management of historical heritage, providing the department responsible for these powers with sufficient personnel to carry out the tasks that are entrusted to it by European and state legislation and Law 11/ 2019, of April 25, Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands.
“From the Consistory we are committed to creating a Historic City Office, a figure dedicated to the protection of the historical complex and the listed buildings of the municipality and the rest of the heritage: artistic, archaeological, ethnographic, bibliographic, documentary, linguistic, landscape, industrial, scientific, technical or of any other cultural nature, regardless of its ownership and legal regime”, explained the mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez. The Laguna City Council wanted to emphasize that these bodies, in no case, will replace those of a higher rank at the island or regional level, depending on the type of property or cataloging that they require.
Law 11/2019 on the Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands states in its article 20 that “city councils, especially those with a declared historical complex, must create municipal cultural heritage councils, which will act as technical advisory bodies for the municipal administration.”
“This circumstance acquires even greater dimension in the case of La Laguna, taking into account that it is the only town in the Canary Islands included in the Group of World Heritage Cities of Spain,” added Luis Yeray Gutiérrez.
Within the specific personnel that is intended to be incorporated into the Department, specific profiles will be included such as architects, historians, archaeologists, general administration technicians, administrative staff or assistants.
La Laguna was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, in its historic center you can find Assets of Cultural Interest (BIC) such as the Hospital and Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, the House of Blessed Father Anchieta or the palaces of Salazar, Lercaro , Nava or the House of the Captains. The Cathedral of La Laguna and the church of La Concepción are also part of this category. It also has two archaeological zones such as the Agua de Dios ravine and La Barranquera, and also intangible heritage such as the Valle de Guerra livery and Los Corazones de Tejina.
