All visits to Cueva Pintada must be guided visits so you have to book in advance. You can reserve your time by calling 928 895 746 or get your ticket at the Caja de Canarias cash machine via the entradas.com service.
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 of this site has been one of the most important events over the last few years in Gran Canaria and is significant for tourism in the North of the island.
The Museum and Archaeological Site of Cueva Pintada is the end result, as it stands, following 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 from 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 Canary culture and which can be observed thanks to a careful and select work of interpretation and preservation.
These paintings 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 and is excavated into the volcanic tuff stone with the walls decorated with friezes of geometric motifs.
The Archaeological Excavation site around the Cueva Pintada in Gáldar, in the North-West of the island, is the combined work and effort of many people who are wholeheartedly devoted to preserving the legacy of the original culture on the Island.
This is a must for anyone who is interested in the past of these volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Museum and Archaeological Excavation Site of Cueva Pintada in Gáldar is an example of a “museification” of a live excavation and, as such, there is a whole wealth of parallel activities, of research and workshops, publications and the like, which has turned the new institution into an important hub of scientific and cultural know-how on the island.
For more information, visit: www.cuevapintada.com