Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

The Interpretation Centre of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape highlights the values of this World Heritage site.

There was a time when the aborigines of Gran Canaria were able to create a bond between Heaven and Earth. It happened on the island’s highlands. Those people created a unique world with their own hands, involving the starts in the process. The most spectacular example of this dialogue between humans, the Sun and the Moon, happened eight centuries ago, in a cavity located at 1200 m of altitude, excavated in volcanic rock. The sunlight and the silver halo of the full moon magically came through the rectangular skylight designed for the purpose, giving light, in turns, to each one of the figures engraved on the walls of Risco Caído cave number six. But there was nothing magical about it, only observation, technique and belief.

Risco Caído, discovered in 1996, is a shining example of Gran Canaria’s extraordinary archaeological legacy.

There are many timeless, mysterious places hidden away in the depths of Gran Canaria. Here, on an island that is visited by millions of tourists every year, long lost secrets continue to come to light up in the mountains. One of the most remarkable cases is the almogarén, a sacred site at Risco Caído, a place where aborigenes on the island would carry out rituals linked to astronomical cycles, with a sacred symbolism, at the heart of the colossal volcanic crater of Tejeda.