Iglesia Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria, Tijarafe

The church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria located in the municipality of Tijarafe on the island of La Palma, was built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. With a defined Mudejar style of a single sober and simple nave, this church has an original belfry of pure autochthonous style, placed in the back part of the temple, with the detail of the balcony and stairs of ascent on the outside of the building.

At the base of the belfry there is a stone engraved with the date 1686. The main entrance of the temple has been recently restored, exposing the stonework of the corners of the whole building.

On the east side you can see the belfry and the Santísimo chapel, one of the chapels that make up the transept and which is considered the oldest. On the west side, three volumes of the building can be distinguished: the main nave with the third entrance door, of which the church consists, the baptistery chapel built later than the others that form the transept, its stonework being of red tosca and the chapel of Christ, the last of the three that form the transept. It is also distinguished the attached of the present parochial house, of recent construction, rising towards the year 1950 on existing rooms from very old date that were used as spoils of the temple, known as "Casita de la Virgen". In the last restoration, a balcony made of tea wood, typical of the old Canary Island pine trees, was added.

Inside the temple, the main nave, sober and simple in style, but very welcoming. In the background is the interesting main altarpiece by Antonio de Orbarán, of great value and artistic interest, being one of the few examples preserved in the archipelago that show an architectural idiosyncrasy of five streets. The originality of this altarpiece lies in the formula followed by Orbarán of placing the entire sculptural display of an extraordinary apostolate in the intercolumniations or in between the streets, giving it practically the appearance of eleven streets. It is, therefore, a mixed sculptural-pictorial solution. In the interior walls of the temple there are ten hollows or niches built in 1950 to place different images.

The choir is made of wood and has a Canarian style. The coffered ceiling of the main chapel is very rich in detail, also highlighting the central nave. The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament or of the Rosary is the most primitive of the whole building and contains the richest of all the existing arches in it. It is worth mentioning the small image of San Antonio de Padua from the 16th century and the images of Nuestra Señora del Rosario and San Fernando. Also outstanding in devotion is the image of the patron saint of Tijarafe and titular of the temple, Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria.