Costa del Sol Towns
History
Passed on January 11, 1959, when five young Maro and
Nerja men (Navas Francisco Montesinos, Miguel Zorrilla, Manuel Munoz, Jose Luis
Barbero, and Jose Miguel Torres Cardenas) decided to go bat hunting in a pit,
which was then known as “Mina,” and where, in the evening, you could see large
flocks of bats.
Once they entered this cave, one of the men noticed a gentle
stream of moist air Looking with the flashlight, he saw that it came from a
narrow stream that could not be split across two stalactites because it was
blocked.
These men decided to return the next day, carrying a few
tools with which they managed to break the stalactites. One of the five boys
went up fireplace chimney and jumped to the ground. From here alerted the
others, who were in another narrow passage, and they reached a large gallery,
where the light of from their torches went out.
They could see that they were not the first ones to have
been in this cave. They were very surprised to find skeletons lying around,
along with some ceramic bowls. Quite scared, they decided to return and tell
family, friends, and teachers of their discoveries.
On the second visit a doctor came with a photographer, who
took photographs that were published about one hundred days later in the local
newspaper, Sur de Malaga. The caves
then became known as the cavity of the cave before it received its current name,
“Cueva de Nerja.”
This step led to another great discovery, called High and
New galleries, whose magnificent rooms, formations, and remnants of life still
cannot be viewed by visitors.
Throughout these years the Cueva de Nerja has not ceased its
activity and concern for the cave, creating the Scientific Committee
(geologists, biologists, archeologists, paleontologists, etc.), which researches,
conducts conferences, studies photographic enhancements, and is in charge of tourist
facilities, cultural activities such as the Festivals of Music and Dance, and contacts
and exchanges with other major caves.
Finally, the Nerja
Cave now has a range of
facilities and services that make it a very comfortable and pleasant place to stay.
It has a good number of covered and guarded parking spots, restaurants, cafes,
bars, services, gardens, picnic and rest areas, a souvenir shop, and even a bus
line.
Fitting
Once the cave had been discovered, there were various
investigations. The cave was talked about by the local press when it became
aware of the importance for tourism and science.
The Delegation of Archaeological Excavations in Malaga tried to locate the
original entry or a more viable access because the pit of the mine entrance upon
the discovery was difficult to access.
The quest for access was made by attempting entry through various
galleries until one of them appeared as a reference point of the surface of the
thick root of a tree, which was a juniper, and enabling four meters below the
location of a new entry.
Later, using an auger to remove a large rock, they
discovered it had prevented entry for thousands of years. They also conducted
the first excavations. The cave opened for sightseeing in 1960. One year later,
on June 15, 1961, the cave was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument.
An archaeologist subsequently made several expeditions to
find the entire cavity and various galleries until, in 1969, he discovered a
narrow passage in the right area and almost on the roof of the hall of
Cataclysm.
Surface of the Cave
The total area of the cave is 35,484 m², and the total
volumeis 64,379 m³.
Cueva de Nerja
There are three main areas:
The tourist galleries (9.371m ² area, volume 106.286m ³)
Room of ghosts, or Chamber of Bethlehem
Room of cascades
The upper galleries
Room of the columns of Hercules, or
the immensity Chamber
The new galleries (recently discovered), or Chamber of the Spear
Room from the mountain
