Roque de Agando (commonly called Roque Agando) is a prominent rock formation on the island of

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...

in the

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 ...

. It is one of La Gomera's most striking features and is frequently used as a symbol for the island. Roque Agando is the most prominent of a group of

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...

s called simply ''Los Roques'', near the centre of the island. The others are named Roque Ojila and Roque Zarcita, and sometimes Roque Carmona and Roque Las Lajas are also included. It rises directly above the main road between the island's capital

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

and

Garajonay National Park Garajonay National Park (, ) is located in the center and north of the island of La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands (Spain). It was declared a national park in 1981 and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. It occupies 40 km2 (15 sq m ...

in the centre, which makes it a popular tourist sight. The summit is not accessible by foot. During the 20th century, some easy

rock-climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

routes were established on the peak, but climbing is now banned there, and hiking is restricted to established paths in its vicinity, as it forms part of a protected area. Remains of the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

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 ...

sacrificial shrines have been found on the summit. These were in good condition until the 1980s, when they were

looted Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

by a German group making a documentary film.Documento Informativo, p. 51

References

{{reflist La Gomera Mountains of the Canary Islands Volcanic plugs of the Canary Islands