The Ermita de San Telmo and the vaulted polvorín

The Ermita de San Telmo sits where the land yields to the salt. Its walls are made of rubble and mud, smoothed over with white lime. Two identical porches of basalt masonry are the only decorative elements that interrupt the whitewashed surfaces. Both have been placed on simple pilasters that support semi-circular arches. The main facade faces west and features a two-story bell gable with a small cross at the top.

A ceiling of Mudéjar origin stretches overhead, its beams carved with geometric patterns and resting on wooden supports shaped like spiraling scrolls. Behind the altar, decorative paintings of foliage and cartels frame and complement the altarpiece, extending vertically toward the first tie-beam.

Outside, the ground remembers a grimmer purpose. Near the square stand the remains of the old Batería de San Telmo. A sentry box and a palisade - a wall at half height and pointed piles - face the sanctuary. Over a cave excavated by the sea, there is a small circular and vaulted room: the polvorín.

Today, the chapel remains a place of worship, a monument of cultural interest. The Gobierno de Canarias maintains the site as a keeper of both the sacred and the martial.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons