Cave-Shrine of Chinguaro is a

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

and associated

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

located in Güímar on

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

(

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

). It was the traditional

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

Acaimo Acaimo or Acaymo was a Guanche '' mencey'' of Tacoronte, on the island of Tenerife at the time of the Spanish conquest in the 15th century. He formed an alliance against the Spaniards with the ''mencey'' Beneharo and the ''mencey'' Bencomo. ...

, the

Guanche Guanche may refer to: *Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands *Guanche language, an extinct language, spoken by the Guanches until the 16th or 17th century *''Conus guanche ''Conus guanche'' is a species of sea snail, a marine ga ...

king of the Menceyato de Güímar. After the Spanish conquest, they venerated the cave as a site of the Virgin Mary, and later built a church shrine there. In this cave, the ancient Guanche venerated the goddess Chaxiraxi of their traditional faith, related to the Berbers of North Africa. After the Castillian

conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

, Spanish clergy identified the icon with the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and had it moved to the Cave of Achbinico in Candelaria. This cave became the first

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

devoted to the Virgin of Candelaria. It was the first Guanche shrine to contain a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

idol in the Canary Islands, but most of the natives adhered to their traditional religion. The cave has been found to be a site of archaeological importance. Layers of ash have been carbon-dated and found to be more than 3,000 years old, showing long indigenous occupancy.

References

Cueva de Chinguaro
Guanche Churches in Tenerife Roman Catholic churches in the Canary Islands Cave churches Caves of the Canary Islands Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Archaeology of Tenerife Prehistory of the Canary Islands {{Spain-RC-church-stub

See also

References