La Laguna Approves Casa Anchieta Museum Plans, Project Starts 2026

The final plans for the Casa Anchieta interpretation center's museum have been approved by La Laguna's Urban Planning Department. Adolfo Cordobés, the Councillor for Cultural Heritage, announced this at a recent meeting of the Municipal Cultural Heritage Council. He mentioned the project will happen in two stages, starting in 2026.

Casa Anchieta is a 16th-century building where the humanist saint José de Anchieta (1534-1597), also known as Father Anchieta, lived as a child and teenager. Last year, the building was restored and became the first interpretation center in the Canary Islands focused on his life, work, and legacy.

Cordobés added that because Casa Anchieta is a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC), the project needs approval from the Tenerife Island Council. This approval confirms the work won't harm the historic building. José Carlos Cabrera Pérez, from the Island Council's Historical Heritage Service, who attended the meeting, said the island's Heritage commission would review the project by the end of November.

These necessary steps have delayed the project, pushing back the start date until next year. It will now be completed in two phases.

Cordobés explained that the first phase will begin in early 2026, after the city's budget is approved. It will be funded by a grant of just over 30,000 euros from the Island Council. This money will be used to create temporary exhibition spaces and multi-purpose rooms on the ground floor.

Work on the rest of the project will continue once all the necessary funding is secured. The aim is to put the second phase out to tender in 2026 as well.

The final plans for the interpretation center, updated by the original designers Pintadera (now Pintadores Asesores Integrales SL) from their 2016 document, propose a total investment of 299,000 euros for construction, according to the Cultural Heritage department.

This updated project, as agreed by the Council, aims to make the center more dynamic. It will include multi-purpose rooms for various activities and temporary exhibition spaces. These areas will host events about Father Anchieta, his work, his importance as a humanist, and his connection between La Laguna, Portugal, Brazil, and Ibero-America.

The goal is for the center to be a dynamic space, not a static museum. It will offer a continuous program of activities and use new technologies like immersive augmented and virtual reality, projections, and interactive displays.

The department states that the center will display collected items, including a book collection from Professor Manuela Marrero and models and materials from the Tupí culture. It will also have exhibits explaining La Laguna's origins as a melting pot of cultures. This diverse heritage, they noted, influenced Anchieta's missionary, cultural, and scientific work in Brazil.

Discussions are also underway with the Padre Anchieta Museum in São Paulo and with MUNA. The aim is to review all their collections related to La Laguna, study them, and consider bringing them to this new center, among other plans.

Adolfo Cordobés emphasized that "the Casa Anchieta Interpretation Center is a unique chance to protect and share La Laguna's cultural heritage linked to Father Anchieta." He added that visitors will learn about José de Anchieta's life and work, and what La Laguna was like during his era, highlighting the values that made it the only World Heritage city in the Canary Islands. The center also aims to rekindle historical, scientific, and cultural ties with Ibero-America.

He noted that it will also "promote cultural coexistence and carry Father Anchieta's legacy into the 21st century, reflecting an open, unwalled city that, nearly five centuries ago, looked towards the New World."

The updated project outlines that the exhibition at Casa Anchieta will focus on three main themes: the many facets of Anchieta's character, the places where he lived, and the different accounts of his life and varied works.

The museum's layout will follow this plan: The ground floor will have a reception area and shop, offering a short introduction to Anchieta's life and the building's history. There will also be two rooms for temporary exhibitions. The mezzanine floor will focus on La Laguna, not just as Anchieta's birthplace and where he grew up, but also as a modern city that still holds the historical importance that made it a World Heritage site. This floor will also include a multi-purpose room.

The central courtyard will be a key feature, guiding visitors between the temporary exhibition areas, the ground floor reception, and the staircase to the upper floor.

The upper floor will have five rooms: one covering Anchieta's life in Coimbra and Brazil; another for his writings and his work as a philologist, naturalist, and anthropologist; a third exploring Americanist studies and research on Anchieta, particularly through Manuela Marrero's contributions; a fourth showcasing the sculpture of him by Giorgi; and a final room dedicated to Anchieta's legacy, his sainthood, and his imagery.

The project also aims for universal accessibility at Casa Anchieta, considering various disabilities. For physical and motor disabilities, architectural barriers will be removed, and an elevator will be installed (pending approval from Sinpromi). For psychological and neurological disabilities, there will be easy-to-read texts and an accessible guide using visual cues with Arasaac pictograms.

Additionally, the center will provide support for people with hearing impairments, including fixed magnetic loops at reception, audio guides compatible with personal magnetic induction loops, sound amplifiers, and a sign language guide for multimedia tours. For those with visual impairments, there will be tactile routes, embossed maps, textured strips, and descriptive audio guides, among other features.