ROCK ART

The rock art of the Mediterranean Basin in the Spanish Peninsula is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Region of Valencia is home to some of the most significant examples of this unique art form.

In mountains and gorges, in out of the way places, the interior of the Region of Valencia is home to more than 600 sites with rock art, 351 of which were included in the UNESCO declaration. The rock art of the Mediterranean Basin in the Spanish Peninsula takes a wide range of forms, ranging from the naturalistic images of Palaeolithic and Levantine art, to more abstract macro-schematic and schematic works, painted on front walls and in rock shelters.

If you are interested in this type of art, go to an interpretation centre to find out more about what guided tours are available and enjoy rock art to the full. The shelters where the art is located are often at the end of short trails with steep slopes, so a walk-through beautiful mountain areas is also guaranteed.

There are three major centres of rock art in the Region of Valencia: from north to south, these are els Ports y Alt Maestrat in Castellon, the Macizo del Caroig in Valencia and the Valles de la Marina and Alcoy in Alicante.

- Museu de la Valltorta (Tírig) the only museum exclusively dedicated to rock art in the Region of Valencia. The museum is located in the gorge of Valltorta, and from there you can visit the sites of Valltorta –Gasulla and many others in northern Castellon.

- Morella la Vella (Morella, Castellon): Not be missed if you want to find out more about the rock art of the mid and late Neolithic period, with visits to two important sites.

- Ecomuseo de Bicorp (Bicorp, Valencia), this museum is the starting point for routes to the magnificent Cueva de la Araña and Barranco Moreno, as well as other shelters.

- Museu Arqueològic Municipal Camil Visedo i Moltó d’Alcoi. From there you can visit the fascinating group of painting at La Sarga, in Alcoy

- Centro de Interpretación de Arte rupestre de Castells de Castells, near the group of paintings at Pla de Petracos (Vall d’Ebo).


There are also many opportunities to find out more about these unique cultural sites in museums such as the MARQ in Alicante, the Museu de Prehistòria in Valencia and the Museu de Bellas Artes in Castellon.


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Be inspired

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Cueva de las Calaveras in Benidoleig (Alicante)
The caves were places of recollection and mysticism for the ancient man. They became dwellings, sanctuaries, and ritual settings with shamans in Prehistory. Possessors of an ancestral knowledge that keeps beating from its walls thousands of years later. One of the caves with more history of the Region of Valéncia is the Cueva de las Calaveras in Benidoleig, province of Alicante. A must visit to learn our past better.
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Rock Art in Castellón Over 7,000 Years Old
The first artistic manifestation of humanity has one of its best exponents in Levantine lands. In particular, the province of Castellón houses a set of caves and walls with cave paintings that go back a whopping 7,000 years before Christ. Places as fascinating as the Valltorta are part of the so-called Levantine Rock Art catalogued as nothing less than World Heritage by UNESCO.
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The Treasure of Villena (Bronze Age in Alicante)
Inland areas in the Province of Alicante hold an invaluable wealth. In 1963, in the town of Villena in Alicante, a set of gold artefacts from the Bronze Age were found. Currently, they are considered one of the most critical findings in Europe, second only to that of the Royal Tombs of Mycenae in Greece.
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World Heritage Sites in the Comunitat Valenciana
Did you know that the Comunitat Valenciana has authentic World Heritage Sites? Here we compile seven artistic, cultural, and traditional Valencian representations that are in the prestigious UNESCO list.

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