Throughout the weekend, the city will be offering various free activities to discover its history and heritage, such as the Tunnel of Time, dramatised routes and guided tours with opera.

La Laguna faces the closing of the ‘Big Week’ with which it has been commemorating the 25th anniversary of the declaration of its historic city as a World Heritage Site by Unesco and does so with a weekend of free cultural events open to the public, including the ‘Tunnel of Time’, the dramatised routes ‘La Laguna, la picota y con el mazo dando’ or the guided tours accompanied by opera ‘Rutas Cruzadas’. And, as a culmination, the show ‘Ángaro de Pieles’, a twinning between the five continents through their popular music with which La Laguna will pay tribute to its historical role as a bridge between cultures of the ‘old and new world’ and its origins as a city of peace and coexistence.

This concert will take place on Sunday (8 December), at 19:00 hours, in the ex-convent of Santo Domingo and with free access until full capacity is reached. This is an opportunity to enjoy music in a monastic space converted into a cultural venue, a monument that reveals the evolution of the historic city and which treasures a cloister of great heritage interest, as well as a model of the city as it was reflected by the Italian engineer Leonardo Torriani in 1588. This is the oldest surviving plan of La Laguna, in which the continuity of the current urban layout can be recognised, as well as the lagoon that gave its name to the city.

The day before (Saturday, 7 December), music moves to the streets of the historic city with Rutas Cruzadas, a proposal by the Department of Tourism that will offer six simultaneous routes through the historic centre, with different themes and starting points, and which will be accompanied by opera. The initiative, run by Reciclown Teatro, includes proposals focusing on the founding of the city, its traditional architecture, squares, the most charming streets, traditional trades and religious architecture. Each route has a maximum of 25 places and all the information, timetables and inscriptions are available on the link turismo.aytolalaguna.es/visitas-guiadas.

Throughout the long weekend, from Friday (6 December) to Sunday (8 December) the Cathedral Square will be the starting point for the dramatised routes ‘La Laguna, la picota y con el mazo dando’, a proposal that has been very well received since it began last Tuesday, and which does not require prior registration. This initiative of the Department of Cultural Heritage, with the participation of the company Burka Teatro and the historian and populariser Néstor Verona, will allow visitors to travel back to the 16th century in La Laguna, to the time when the city was being built, and to learn about life, the systems of justice and the methods of punishment of this historical period.

These guided tours are open to the public, with a total of five morning and afternoon tours for these dates. On Friday and Saturday, they will start at 11:00 and 18:00, while on Sunday there will be a single final session at 11:00, all starting in the Plaza de Los Remedios, next to the Cathedral.

The Tunnel of Time, an original initiative of the Councils of Cultural Heritage and Rural Development for this 25th anniversary and which has been attracting hundreds of people since its inauguration last Wednesday, will also remain open throughout the long weekend. Located in the Deán Palahí alley, with access from the Plaza del Adelantado, this Troysteatro proposal allows, just by going through a door, to immerse oneself in the daily life of the early 19th century in La Laguna, where high society, the ‘tapadas’ and the different trades coexist and adapt to an interesting historical period, that of the War of Independence and the creation in the city of the Junta Suprema de Canarias (Supreme Board of the Canary Islands).

he initiative has the participation of Ubaldo Vestimenta Tradicional in the setting and costumes and with the collaboration of the Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena, including the option of accessing its courtyard and contemplating the model of this important conventual space in La Laguna. The Tunnel of Time can be visited free of charge from Friday to Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00. Access is by small consecutive groups.

All the information on the programme for the 25th anniversary of the declaration of La Laguna as a World Heritage City, with timetables and activities, is available on the web 25aniversario.aytolalaguna.es