The story of the Former Monastery of Saint Augustine (Former Monastery of San Agustin) begins in the same way as all of the religious sites in Tenerife and the Canary Islands: with the arrival of the first Castilian colonisers. In this case, it was inaugurated in 1515 under the direction of the Augustine monks who arrived from the Iberian Peninsula.

As well as a monastery, the building has had multiple uses since its construction in order to adapt to historical needs and circumstances. It has served as a place of study, a weather station, and a library, as well as even being used as a prison during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

However, education has carried the most weight in its history, as it was the location of the first university and the first secondary school on the archipelago. Today, it holds a school and a small museum. The monastery also has an annexed church, which is now in ruins following a fire that destroyed it in 1964.

The building is right in the old centre of San Cristobal de La Laguna, surrounded by palm trees in Tenerife’s metropolitan area.