Saturday, June 05, 2010

Casa Monteverde

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Just round the back of the Iglesia de la Concepción - the Church of the Conception (a National Monument), in La Orotava, is the classical facade of the Casa Monteverde. It's not apparent from the street, but behind this facade is a large, two-story, mansion, built around a central patio (see satellite images).

This house, at number 6, Calle Collegio, dates to before 1675 and was constructed by Juan Van Dalle y Espino and his wife, Maria de Ponte y Molina. And it was from this house in the middle of the 19th Century that the making carpets for the Corpus Christi celebrations was begun by Leonor del Castillo y Monteverde.

The original name of the German merchants, established in Flanders, was Groenenberg, but was later translated to the Spanish, Monteverde, shortly after Jacome Van Groenenberg had moved to La Palma in the 1500's.

Casa Monteverde also has the claim to fame that the Infante Enrique de Borbón (brother of the king consort to Isabella II of Spain) - and the first ever member of the Spanish Royal family to visit the Canaries - stayed there in 1864.

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