Museo y Parque Arqueológico Cueva Pintada de Gáldar

The Cueva Pintada Museum and Archaeological Park Project

In last fifteen years, we have seen in Spain a proliferation of a kind of archaeological museum open air, with a monographic measure, that under the term “archaeological park” included projects of very different natures.

The economic development of the society during the last quarter of the 20th century caused a deep transformation in the concept of culture, as a productive investment linked to leisure.

This change also affected to the museums. This made that appear new leissures centers, where the public is the most important. It is not that the collections are in a second place, but the work in the centers is related directly with the visitors, who have another place in this new scheme.

In 1986, Cueva Pintada was included in the roster of the “National Plan for Archaeological Parks”, promoted by the Ministry of Culture.

From this way, in 1987, the Cueva Pintada Archaeological Park project was initiated in Galdar. Which it is a program that included documentation, preservation and spreading patrimony

In 1988, the Cueva Pintada Archaeological Park project was acepted, and in that moment three complentary thematic areas were established: preservation, archaeology and architecture.

The preservation area must be applied to the diagnosis and treatment of the multicoloured panels

The architecture one, is applied to design the effective elements of protection and presentation of the monumental whole.

Finally, the archaeological area is to make the necessary spaces free to execute the architectural project. However, the unexpected spectacularity of the discovery made the archaeology be more important in times of contextualizing the troglodytic complex, recovering the village and vestiges found in it and, finally, understanding the historic scene which people tried to rebuild and spread.