59 Ermita de Santa Catalina

Construction of this chapel, located in the upper reaches of La Orotava, began in the mid-sixteenth century, and it is one of the oldest religious buildings that still stand. Antonio de Franchy Lutzardo and his wife Inés López Doya were behind its construction, and they placed it under the patronage of Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine of Alexandria), who continues to be its patron. It is located on this spot because she was the local patroness of the mills that processed the sugar crops that had been grown in the Canary Islands since the fifteenth century. It is a chapel with a single nave divided by a transverse arch. Although the façade has undergone a reform that has impaired the original architectural features of this old building, its ancient stone archway is evidence of its antiquity. It is a semicircular stone arch with capital that reflects the Gothic tradition.