Church of Saint Barthelemy

St. Bartholomew’s Church in the town of Saint Barthelemy, is on the island of Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain).  It was built in the late eighteenth century about 100 or 200 meters from the site of the former chapel.

The construction, undertaken between 1779 and 1783 is due primarily to the small size of the old chapel and determined attitude of Francisco Tomas Guerra Clavijo, a War Major, who mobilized the neighborhood through a subscription, and worked to raise donations for the new building.

In the late nineteenth century they carried out the construction of the upper bell since before then it was only made of two stone parts.  Gradually the church sold their properties, possibly to cover maintenance costs and after the second decade of the twentieth century the parish house was purchased.

The roofs of the church are made of wood, and were used to ship the two types of water to the presbytery and side chapels. It has a very simple wood panelling brought from Tenerife.   The roof of the house was painted blue, which retrieves the color of the wood.

Throughout the years the building has been affected as a direct consequence of the lack of economic resources and interventions made to restore and rehabilitate some of the interior of the temple precincts. These projects, which have been conducted in 162, 1971 and 1992, have adversely affected the building and some elements of worship that it housed.

In 1992 to the left of the sacristy a place to store household waste such as thrones, catafalque, monuments, etc was added. As well as a conference room where the baptistery was, which was later demolished.  Also, side retablos and a pulpit were removed and burned, and the baptismal font disappeared in 1974.

The church has a Latin cross plan with sacristy behind the presbytery.  A few years ago they built a new chapel to the side wall with a door to the gospel directly from the square. Homepage is accessed from a stone staircase with half-point arc and the corners covered with black stone.

On the cover there is a small success with a cross that appears on one eye, which now carries a glass window.  Only the old building is preserved in the sacristy and the chapel of the founder of the Epistle is buried.

There is a bell around the corner stone of the epistle, topped with a small dome and the top of the Church is oval and completely whitewashed. Like the church of Yaiza, it can be accessed by the wall of the epistle.