<< Our Photo Pages >> Altamira - Cave or Rock Shelter in Spain in Cantabria
Submitted by coldrum on Thursday, 01 March 2018 Page Views: 16840
Natural PlacesSite Name: Altamira Alternative Name: Cueva de AltamiraCountry: Spain
NOTE: This site is 6.38 km away from the location you searched for.
Region: Cantabria Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Santillana del Mar Nearest Village: Herran
Latitude: 43.376840N Longitude: 4.11975W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
DrewParsons 43559959 would like to visit
AP_Southsea_UK visited on 20th May 2023 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5 The original cave cannot be seen/visited or even located? (although it is nearby)
The museum of Altamira contains a reproduction of the cave, the Neocave which is a meticulous and exact reproduction, made in full scale, which reconstructs the cave of Altamira as it was between 22,000 and 13,000 years ago.
I took 30 photos of the ceiling paintings
and 30 other photos of the museum artifacts
More info here:
https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/spain/altamira/
Megalithic89 visited on 1st Jul 1992 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5
Kuba visited - their rating: Amb: 3 Access: 5
Andy B have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 5 Ambience: 4.33 Access: 5
Its special relevance comes from the fact that it was the first cave in which prehistoric cave paintings were discovered. When the discovery was first made public in 1880, it led to a bitter public controversy between experts which continued into the early 20th century, as many of them did not believe prehistoric man had the intellectual capacity to produce any kind of artistic expression. The acknowledgement of the authenticity of the paintings, which finally came in 1902, changed forever the perception of prehistoric human beings.
It is located near the town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, 30 km west of the city of Santander. The cave with its paintings has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
During 2010 there were plans to reopen access to the cave towards the end of that year. However, the Spanish Ministry of Culture decided that the cave would remain closed to the public. This decision was based on advice from a group of experts who had found that the conservation conditions inside the cave had become much more stable since the closure.
More at Wikipedia and Wikipedia Commons Images. The local museum web site is museodealtamira.mcu.es.
Altamira is spanish for high views. A critique of Jean Clottes' latest book: Pourquoi l’art préhistorique? - also lots of archive images of the cave art.
The Journal of Antiquities also features an entry for this cave - see their webpage for the Cave of Altamira, Santillana Del Mar, Cantabria, Northern Spain, which gives directions for finding the cave, together with background information, a description, a drawing from 1880 and photographs.
Note: Episode 1 of the much heralded new BBC documentary Civilisations is tonight (UK, 1st March), featuring cave paintings and the possible soundscapes that accompanied them in caves that date up to 40000 years old. More details in the comments on our page
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