Historical and artistic heritage - Villa de Mazo

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Historical and artistic heritage

Within the municipality’s historical and cultural spaces, the religious architecture of Villa de Mazo occupies an important place.

Highlights include the San Blas parish church, the three 18th-century hermitages, Santa Rosalía, the Ntra. Sra. de Los Dolores Hermitage and the San Juan de Belmaco Hermitage, are simple, single-nave buildings with few stonework elements on the exterior. Also noteworthy is the modern building of the Santo Domingo de Guzmán Parish in Tigalate and several small chapels, such as the one in San Juan de La Bajita, Ntra. Sra. del Carmen Varadero-La Bajita, the one in Pozo and Virgen del Carmen in La Salemera.

As far as modern art is concerned, open-air sculptures can be admired in various parts of the municipality, including the one by the sculptor from La Palma, Medín Martín Barrios, “Homage to the Emigrant”, located in the Plaza del Pintor Macense Gregorio Toledo Pérez.

A visit to the Casa Roja, museum of Corpus Christi and Embroidery, which also houses some interesting pictorial works, is essential.

Plaza Pedro Pérez Díaz

Plaza Pedro Pérez Díaz is the administrative and cultural heart of Villa de Mazo, a meeting place and a regular setting for public events and local celebrations.
Presiding over the square is the Villa de Mazo Town Hall, an institutional building with sober lines and balanced proportions, an example of the civic architecture of the midlands of La Palma. Opposite it is the Alonso Pérez Díaz Municipal Public Library, housed in an old restored family house, which preserves wooden balconies, traditional roofs and an interior adapted to its cultural function.
The ensemble is completed with stone balustrades, open paving and warm-toned facades that reinforce its representative character and its tranquil atmosphere, reflecting the identity of Mazo.

San Blas Parish Church

The parish church of San Blas, whose initial construction dates from the end of the 15th century, is located in El Pueblo, the urban centre of Villa de Mazo, which is accessed by a steep cobbled road. Its origins date back to a small hermitage erected in 1512; centuries later, two naves were added, giving it its current basilica plan. Within the walls of this architecture with Mudejar roots is a central mahogany altarpiece created under Baroque guidelines between 1709 and 1711, whose authorship is attributed to the local master assembler Juan Fernández (1643-1727), and a beautiful set of 16th century Flemish images, among which the carving of the patron saint San Blas stands out. Added to these are other works of Andalusian origin, such as those of the Child Jesus and San Juan Bautista, attributed to the Sevillian school, and that of the Virgen del Rosario, carved in Havana. Next to the temple is the parish house, a building of great value for its style and antiquity.

Hermitage of San Juan de Belmaco

It is the oldest, located in the Lomo Oscuro neighbourhood and founded in 1709 by the presbyter Juan Fernández Yanes. It is a single-nave enclosure with a door framed in a semicircular arch on the main façade and a simple belfry with a single bell. In 1778 the sacristy was built. It was restored in the 20th century and after suffering damage from the eruption of the San Juan volcano.

Hermitage of Santa Rosalía de Palermo

The presbyter Domingo Lascano Yanes y Monteverde, promoted in 1794 the construction of the hermitage of Santa Rosalía de Palermo in the Monte Breña neighbourhood. This priest, according to the Visit of 1794, endowed the small church with an annual pension of 45 old vellón reales destined to the celebration of a sung mass in the Saint’s onomastics (which is currently celebrated on 4 September). It is a single-nave building with a door in the main façade topped with a small belfry for a bell, with a small sacristy attached to one of its sides.

Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores

The primitive hermitage was erected in 1761 by Tomás de Aquino Fernández Riverol.
In 1767 a bell was received from Caracas and in 1774 Juan Méndez brought from Mexico the carving that represents Christ in the arms of his mother..
In 1865 a new hermitage was built to replace the original building and in 1876 the master Riveros added the belfry with three bells. At the beginning of the 1960s it was renovated and the most recent intervention was carried out in 2024.