After ten years of waiting, and of struggle on the part of the La Victoria City Council and the residents themselves, the so-called Silla Victoriera will be declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), in the category of Traditional Craft Techniques. He Government of the Canary Islands has submitted to public information, for a period of 20 business days, the protection file in favor of this peculiar piece of furniture.
This was initiated by resolution, dated January 26, 2023, of the Historical Heritage area of the Cabildo de Tenerife. The procedure began at the request of the La Victoria City Council itself, which has led this initiative since 2013. In 2019, the Consistory even collected some 1,000 signatures from the residents of the municipality so that the Victoriera Chair was protected and recognizedspecifically, its design and creation technique.
The declaration of this craft technique as an Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest has also had the support of institutions and groups, such as the University of La Lagunathe Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Tenerife, the San Miguel Arcángel Royal Academy of Fine Arts or the Institute of Canarian Studies.
Those interested can consult the fileand present allegations if they consider it so, at the offices of the Historical Heritage Administrative Service, in the TEA Building, on Fuente Morales street, from Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Of course, and as reported in the announcement published yesterday by the Government in the Official Gazette of Canary Islands (BOC), it will be necessary to request appointmentby sending an email to the address [email protected] or by calling 922 84 34 97.
The victory chairvery popular in the trousseau of Tenerife homes from the 19th and 20th centuries, and which It began to be manufactured in the municipality of La Victoria, it is an emblematic piece of furniture inspired by the simplest chair of the English Chippendale style, from the 18th century.. According to the technical reports prepared at the time, by the doctor in Art History Jonás Armas Núñez and the Victorian architect Carmen María Flores, this piece of furniture is «a key piece in the crafts, the traditional trades of the Canary Islands and the insular artistic production».
The simplification and adaptation of those English-style chairs gave rise to the victorious chair. The English chair was adapted to island materials and simplified until it became popular in the 19th century, although it had been made in the municipality of La Victoria since the end of the 18th century.
«Its acceptance was such that it forms part of popular Tenerife domestic furniture, being found in buildings of all economic levels. From Tenerife it went to the rest of the islands, having been inventoried in all the islands of the Archipelago”, it is indicated in the technical reports.
The City Council of La Victoria led the request for protection and recognition of this peculiar chair in the face of the gradual disappearance of the artisans who made it, with the aim of guaranteeing the future of this “unique testimony of Canarian culture”.
