This old set of dilapidated buildings, which never opened for their original use, has become a unique location to host all kinds of film sets
It would be hard for those who thought up this space in the middle of nowhere in the south of Tenerife more than 80 years ago to have imaged what it would end up being. Abades Leper Colony, located in the municipality of Arico, was designed by the architect Marrero Regalado in 1940 to house those suffering from leprosy and tuberculosis.
The works took six years to complete, but the colony was never opened. The arrival of vaccines, along with its V-shaped design (habitual for this type of facility), albeit with the wrong orientation which meant the winds propagated contagion instead of diminishing it, led to the failure of the project. This led the Ministry of Health to transfer the property to the Ministry of Defence, which used it for military manoeuvres for many years until it was acquired by a private buyer, which began to offer it as a film set.
The audio-visual world fell in love with the strange beauty of this historical and film-friendly site many years ago. The apocalyptic appearance of this set of some 30 buildings, with no doors or windows, on which the impact of so many projectiles has left its mark. Combined with the wear and tear of the passing of time, has made it iconic for multiple shoots on the island. Accordingly, there have been no small number of adverts, videoclips, series like Plan América, Las noches de Tefía (waiting to premiere) and feature films like Operación Concha, in which Abades Leper Colony has starred among their shots and scenes, making up the plot one way or another. Contributing its powerful personality as an abandoned and clearly dilapidated location, in the end it is still recognisable and standing. A “blockbuster” consolation for a place that was originally designed as somewhere so gloomy.
Contact Tenerife Film Commission to film at Abades Leper Colony:
+34 647 346 462
film@webtenerife.com
www.tenerifefilm.com
