Cueva Pintada, Painted Cave, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

 After visiting the cave complex Cenobio de Valeron or the Valeron Granary on Gran Canaria, we then went on to Cueva Pintada, or Painted Cave. The Cueva Pintada Museum and Archaeological Park is located at Galdar on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its function is for the preservation and research of one of the most unique deposits of Gran Canaria.

Cueva Pintada, after which the deposit is named, was discovered in the mid 19th century. It is part of a group of artificial caves dug in the volcanic rock sinters. The Painted Cave has a wall of geometric motifs and is an unique representation of the Pre-Hispanic mural paintings.

It seemed a bit strange walking through a busy town and then along the pedestrianised streets to get to the archaeological park. The blue plaque on the ground marks the pilgrim's way, The Camino de Santiago, which stretches along 66 km in Gran Canaria -

As you enter the ticket hall and souvenir shop there is no indication of how extensive the site is.

Firstly you go downstairs and watch a film on the history of the people. Then there is a rather small museum, showing some of the archaeological findings that came from the deposit. These include Pre-Hispanic items along with others from late Mediaeval that were imported to the island, mostly from the Iberian Peninsula. Some of the exhibits are permanent, others are on temporary display.

You then go into a small theatre to watch another film on the history of the cave paintings. At the end the screen suddenly rises and you are looking down onto the large expanse of the archaeological park. This was a real surprise. The park is enclosed in glass windows and curtains and immediately surrounding it are houses of the modern day town. I found this quite incongruous.

A walkway goes down and around the hamlet of Cueva Pintada and you can get a closer look at the houses. Many houses have been excavated, as well as storage areas. The houses are in the shape of a cross whereas the stores are just simple rooms. Excavations in the volcanic rock sinters from 1987 to the present day have confirmed that Cueva Pintada used to be part of a village with over 50 houses and artificial caves dating back from the 6th to 16th centuries.  

The last surprise is the Painted Cave. We walked down to the platform seen in the above photo and the guide lets you in a locked door. Inside are a few steps down, enclosed by glass windows. Suddenly the lights go on in the painted cave and straight ahead are the paintings. As mentioned before, they are just geometric shapes. Unfortunately when they were first discovered, nothing was done to preserve them, so they are now quite faded. But now the conditions such as temperature and humidity etc, are strictly controlled. No photos are allowed of the paintings.

Again I found it quite surreal that this ancient site is in the middle of a modern town. 

The last part of the walkway takes you to some reconstructed houses -

Photo of the paintings as shown on the pamphlet -

See more on the Gran Canaria tourism website . This has more information and photos of the paintings.