Cueva de Achbinico

Cueva de Achbinico, also so called Cave of San Blas, was after the conquest of the Canary Islands the first Christian sanctuary in religious significance^[1] and the first sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the Canary Islands produced worship to the Virgin of Candelaria (Patron of Canary Islands). Located in the town of Candelaria in Tenerife (Spain).

This cave is behind Basilica of Candelaria and is visited by pilgrims, which are in the habit of taking and leaving flushed candles and doing requests to the Virgin. Inside the cave there is a reply in bronze of the Virgin of Candelaria. The Cueva de Achbinico has a great importance not alone religious, but also historical, since in her guanches were baptized.

Archaeological excavations have shown that the cave was a place of worship long before aboriginal guanches placed in the image of the Virgin on it.^[2] According to recent archaeological layers of ash found and submitted for consideration are carbon-14 dating back over three thousand years. In this cave a fire was kept on permanently, something like the temple of the Vestal Virgins of ancient Rome.

References

1. ^ Presentación, municipio de Candelaria
2. ^ Arquitectura canaria precolonial

See also

• Basilica of Candelaria
• Candelaria
• Cueva de Chinguaro