Arquitectura defensiva de santa cruz de Tenerife. Historia y soluciones

Abstract

Most of Tenerife’s tourists comes looking for things usually advertised by travel agencies: sun, beach andnature.Culture is a residual asset, usually focused, regarding historical heritage, in La Laguna, declared WorldHeritage Site, which leaves Santa Cruz aside, being identified as the capital of the province or withCarnival. But this city is something else. It is the municipality of the Canary Islands with the largest numberof declared cultural interest assets, and with a complex defensive system on its seafront formed byfortifications and all kinds of infrastructures. They played an important role in the three main British attacks suffered by the city during the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries, with final updates during the Second World War, against the possibility of anattack by the Allied forces. This study approaches the history of Santa Cruz associated with its defensivearchitecture elements, of diverse ownership and in different state of conservation. We call upon the needfor a joint management model through the development of a Master Plan, based on the National Plan ofDefensive Architecture from the Spanish Institute of Cultural Heritage, where citizen’s participation shouldbe a main element, thanks to a real commitment with cultural heritage, and an educational and touristicpurpose, already implemented successfully in other places such as Cartagena, with its Cartagena Puertode Culturas