Culture

Many years of careful excavation, interpretation and preservation were required before the Cueva Pintada and the pre-Hispanic village remains could be opened to the general public again. The inauguration was one of the most important events of the last few years in Gran Canaria and was significant for tourism in the North of the island.

The Museum and Archaeological Site of Cueva Pintada is the end result, as it stands, of 24 years of excavation and careful preservation of an enormous archaeological reserve. The building of the museum itself was raised around the remains of the original aborigine settlement that constitutes one of the greatest values of cultural heritage to be found on the island, a relic of times long gone before the Europeans arrived to colonise. The site and the Museum afford a vision of the houses and caves of the original inhabitants of the islands, to be observed from a large raised passageway that takes you round the whole perimeter of the site without affecting its integrity.

The museum takes its name form the most spectacular part of the rock paintings, in the Cueva Pintada (meaning Painted Cave). These are the typical symbols and geometric figures that now represent the Canary culture and can be observed thanks to a careful and select work of interpretation and preservation.

These painting are an important legacy of the original inhabitants and led the site to be declared a Historical-Artistic Monument in 1972. The main cave is artificial excavated into the volcanic tuff stone with the walls decorated with friezes of geometric motifs.