Spain Guide
Cantabria and Asturias
The Caves of Altamira
Address: 2km west of Santillana
Telephone: 942 818 815
Website: museodealtamira.mcu.es
Opening time: Caves not open to visitors; museum Tues– Sat 9.30am–8pm, until 6pm Oct– May, Sun 9.30am–3pm
Price: €2.40
The Caves of Altamira, burrowing into the hillside, date from around 12,000 BC. Yhey consist of an extraordinary series of caverns, adorned by prehistoric human inhabitants with paintings of bulls, bison, boars and other animals, etched in red and black with confident and impressionistic strokes. Sealed by a roof collapse thirteen thousand years ago, the murals were in near-perfect condition when rediscovered in the 1870s, their colours striking and vigorous; as Picasso put it, "After Altamira, everything is decadence". During the 1950s and 1960s, however, they seriously deteriorated due to the moisture in visitors' breath, and the caves are now closed to prevent further damage.
The remarkable Museo de Altamira alongside the site centres on a "Neocave", a large and very convincing replica of a portion of the caverns that gives a spine-tingling sense of how the paintings look in situ. Comprehensive displays in the adjoining galleries trace human history all the way back to Africa, with three-dimensional replicas and authentic finds from Altamira and other Spanish sites, and plentiful captions in English. No one knows exactly why the Paleolithic art at Altamira was created, but according to archeologists it was not primarily related to hunting, in that the specific animals depicted were not eaten any more than other species.