WINTER SOLSTICE 2023

Sol calima, the orb at dawn, is the sun that, at sunrise, rests on the ridge of the Volcano temple during the winter solstice.

It sits static in a hollow in the top of the burnt caldera of Vegueta, perfectly aligned with the remains of an altar inside the volcano.

This astronomical event marks the changing seasons, like a solar calendar, the volcano's marker notes the times of harvest or sowing.

This work filled that space during its creation, in the same place where the sun rises each year, fighting against the morning wind, it was created with the same calima colours of the sunrise it portrays.

The volcano temple, has a pre-Hispanic solar calendar carved into its ridge. Despite the lack of academic information and the passivity of the institutions to study and conserve this heritage, it is empirical to observe that the earthworks and cuts made on the volcano's crest were man-made and are similar in shape and orientation to those present on other sacred mountains on the island of Lanzarote, the mountain of Guenia and the burnt caldera of Órzola.

Photo Jorge de La Cruz

AN ANCIENT OBSERVATORY:

A traditional astronomical observatory is a man-made structure that, by means of soil excavation, creates landmarks on the horizon that allow observers to track the movement of the stars. In this case, a clear cut in the ridge, an opening of approximately 2.5 x 2.5 metres, is oriented at sunrise on the winter solstice if we place the observation point from a monolith on the other side of the crater or from what appears to be the remains of an ancient altar on the inner northern slope, almost at the bottom of the volcano. It should be noted that the cuts in the ridge are perfectly parallel to this solstitial axis.