"full of artworks is one of the largest European Royal Palaces, which is characterized by its luxurious rooms and its rich collections of armors and weapons, pharmaceutical, silverware, watches, paintings, tapestries and the most comprehensive collection of Stradivarius in the world The National Archaeological Museum of Spain collection includes, among others, Pre-historic, Celtic, Iberian, Greek and Roman antiquities and medieval (Visigothic, Muslim and Christian) objects. Highlights include a replica of the Altamira cave (the first cave in which prehistoric cave paintings were discovered), Lady of Elche (an enigmatic polychrome stone bust), Lady of Baza (a famous example of Iberian sculpture),"
"cave painting in central Europe) and Magura, Belogradchik, Bulgaria. Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces, but fewer of those have survived because of erosion. One well-known example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi in the Saimaa area of Finland. When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Altamira cave, Cantabria, Spain in 1879, the academics of the time considered them hoaxes. Recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity, while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry of Upper Palaeolithic peoples. Cave paintings, undertaken with only the most rudimentary"
"Heritage Site of Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain; they are close to the coast in Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque Country. This artistic manifestation is found most importantly in the northern Cantabrian area, where the earliest manifestations, for example the Caves of Monte Castillo are as old as Aurignacian times. The practice of this mural art increases in frequency in the Solutrean period, when the first animals are drawn, but it is not until the Magdalenian cultural phase when it becomes truly widespread, being found in almost every cave. Most of the representations are of"
"of Alfoz de Lloredo. This cave contains rock art, including two bison carved and painted in red, a doe, a horse, a clavate (club), a sign on the grill and several more configurations. These remains have been dated to the early or middle Magdalenian period. The Cave of Altamira is located near Santillana del Mar. This cave, called the ""Sistine Chapel of Quaternary"", is relatively small () and contains the rock paintings of sixteen bison, several depictions of deer, the largest of which is tall and of horses. The cave has been included in UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites"
"paintings. The UNESCO World Heritage Site ""Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain"" consists of ten caves in Cantabria and three in the Basque County, as well as five from the Comarca de Oriente, the easternmost part of Asturias. The region is and was part of the Eurosiberian climatic zone, and remained relatively moist throughout the period, unlike much of Spain. In the relevant period common trees included birch, Scots pine, beech, juniper and willow, these fluctuating with changes in temperature. The animal remains commonly found at human sites include red deer, aurochs, ibex, horse and goats."
"sceptique"", published in the journal ""L'Anthropologie"". Sautuola, having died 14 years earlier, did not live to witness his rehabilitation. Further excavation work on the cave was done by Hermilio Alcalde del Río between 1902–04, the German Hugo Obermaier between 1924–25 and finally by Joaquín González Echegaray in 1968. There is no scientific agreement on the dating of the archeological artifacts found in the cave, nor the drawings and paintings, and scientists continue to evaluate the age of the cave art at Altamira. In 2008, researchers using uranium-thorium dating found that the paintings were completed over a period of up to"
"was suggested and promoted. Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola published his research with the support of Juan de Vilanova y Piera in 1880 to initial public acclaim. However, the publication of Sanz de Sautuola's research quickly led to a bitter public controversy among experts, some of whom rejected the prehistoric origin of the paintings on the grounds that prehistoric human beings lacked sufficient ability for abstract thought. The row continued until 1902, as reports of similar findings of prehistoric paintings in the franco-cantabrian region had accumulated, and the evidence could no longer be rejected. Altamira is located in the Franco-Cantabrian region"
"of these prehistoric human settlements are the famous paintings in the Altamira cave of Cantabria in northern Iberia, which were created from 35,600 to 13,500 BCE by Cro-Magnon. Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests that the Iberian Peninsula acted as one of several major refugia from which northern Europe was repopulated following the end of the last ice age. The largest groups inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula before the Roman conquest were the Iberians and the Celts. The Iberians inhabited the Mediterranean side of the peninsula, from the northeast to the southeast. The Celts inhabited much of the inner and Atlantic sides"
"Europe figurative sculpture greatly reduced, and remained a less common element in art than relief decoration of practical objects until the Roman period, despite some works such as the Gundestrup cauldron from the European Iron Age and the Bronze Age Trundholm sun chariot. The oldest European cave art dates back 40,800, and can be found in the El Castillo Cave in Spain. Other cave painting sites include Lascaux, Cave of Altamira, Grotte de Cussac, Pech Merle, Cave of Niaux, Chauvet Cave, Font-de-Gaume, Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire, England, (Cave etchings and bas-reliefs discovered in 2003), Coliboaia cave from Romania (considered the oldest"
"of Atapuerca; a flint tool found there dates from 1.4 million years ago, and early human fossils date to roughly 1.2 million years ago. Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago. The most conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are the famous paintings in the northern Spanish cave of Altamira, which were done c. 15,000 BC and are regarded as paramount instances of cave art. Furthermore, archeological evidence in places like Los Millares and El Argar, both in the province of Almería, and La Almoloya"
"Borbón). In his will is found the large collections he had of Goya, Ruben, Velazquez, the Neapolitan Andrea Vaccaro and the portrait of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Great Captain, owned by the Casa de Cabra. Palace of Altamira (Madrid) The Palace of Altamira (Spanish: ""Palacio de Altamira""), abbreviated Altamira Palace, is a palace located at number 8 Calle de la Flor Alta, near the Gran Via in Madrid, Spain. It was declared ""Bien de Interés Cultural"" (a national monument) in 1977. It was designed by the architect, Ventura Rodríguez, in 1772. The Palace of Altamira was a building of"
"Cueva de los Casares Cueva de los Casares is a cave in Riba de Saelices (Province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain). Discovered in 1933, it contains a number of paleolithic cave paintings, and is most notable for a series of paintings depicting what some have argued is the earliest representation of human understanding of the reproductive process, featuring images of copulation (perhaps mediated by a mysterious shaman figure), pregnancy, childbirth, and family life. Mammoths and other animals feature frequently in the illustrations. It was declared ""Bien de Interés Cultural"" in 1935. There are many representations of animals, anthropomorphs (human-like figures),"
"of Altamira near the town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, where in 1879 a young girls exclamation of ""Papa. Look, oxen."" to her father, local amateur archeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, is explained to have meant that ""Maria had just become the first modern human to set eyes on the first gallery of prehistoric paintings ever to be discovered."" The find revealed that, ""About 35,000 years ago, we began to create pictures and to understand what they meant."" French priest Henri Breuil believed that, ""prehistoric artists painted animals to increase their chances of a successful hunt,"" but the"
"water vapor in the breath of the large number of visitors. Altamira was completely closed to the public in 1977, and reopened to limited access in 1982. Very few visitors were allowed in per day, resulting in a three-year waiting list. After green mold began to appear on some paintings in 2002, the caves were closed to public access. A replica cave and museum were built nearby and completed in 2001 by Manuel Franquelo and Sven Nebel, reproducing the cave and its art. The replica allows a more comfortable view of the polychrome paintings of the main hall of the"
"about 36,000 BCE. The Altamira cave paintings in Spain were done 14,000 to 12,000 BCE and show, among others, bisons. The hall of bulls in Lascaux, Dordogne, France, dates from about 15,000 to 10,000 BCE. The meaning of many of these paintings remains unknown. They may have been used for seasonal rituals. The animals are accompanied by signs that suggest a possible magic use. Arrow-like symbols in Lascaux are sometimes interpreted as calendar or almanac use, but the evidence remains interpretative. Some scenes of the Mesolithic, however, can be typed and therefore, judging from their various modifications, are fairly clear."
"into the Botín family of Cantabrian bourgeoisie. The current owners of Banco Santander are Sautuola's descendants. Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola or Marcelino de Sautuola was a Spanish jurist and amateur archaeologist who owned the land where the Altamira cave was found. The Altamira cave, now famous for its unique collection of prehistoric art, was well known to local people, but had not been given much attention until in 1868, when it was ""discovered"" by the hunter Modesto Peres. Sautuola then started exploring the caves in 1875. He did not become aware of the paintings, however,"
"the Altai region, images depicted on historical shamanic drums demonstrate a striking similarity with what is shown on the rock engravings"" (Devlet 47). In the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe, rock art was produced inside cave systems by the hunter-gatherer peoples who inhabited the continent. The oldest known example is the Chauvet Cave in France, although others have been located, including Lascaux in France, Alta Mira in Spain and Creswell Crags in Britain and Grotta del Genovese in Sicily. The late prehistoric rock art of Europe has been divided into three regions by archaeologists. In Atlantic Europe, the coastal seaboard on"
"Émile Cartailhac Émile Cartailhac (15 February 1845, Marseille – 26 November 1921, Geneva) was a French prehistorian, one of the founding fathers of the studies of the cave art. He is perhaps best remembered because of his involvement with the Altamira paintings. He got interested in prehistory (studies of which were then just beginning) at a very young age. He made excavations around the dolmens in Aveyron, and also in Portugal, Iceland and the Balearic Islands. In 1867 he was the supervisor of the prehistory section at a world's fair in Paris. Two years later, he became the chief editor"
"Castillo Cave in Spain, but cave art exists across the continent. Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces, but fewer of those paintings have survived because of erosion. One well-known example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi in the Saimaa area of Finland. The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin represents a very different style, with the human figure the main focus, often seen in large groups, with battles, dancing and hunting all represented, as well as other activities and details such as clothing. The figures are generally rather sketchily depicted in thin paint, with the relationships between"
"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. Some of the polychrome paintings at Altamira Cave are well known in Spanish popular culture. The logo used by the autonomous government of Cantabria to promote tourism to the region is based on one of the bisons in this cave. ""Bisonte"" (Spanish for ""bison""), a Spanish cigarette brand of the 20th century, also used a Paleolithic style bison figure along with its logo. The Spanish comic series ""Altamiro de la Cueva"", created in 1965,"
"human hands that were pressed against the cave wall surfaces. The second is a less common style of cave art, characterized by images drawn of larger, naturalistic profile paintings of wild land mammals that were endemic to the island diring the Pleistocene period, such as miniature buffalos and warty pigs. Other than Altamira, the Maros cave art is one of the most extensive sites of cave rock art in the world. These Indonesian prehistoric cave paintings might be the oldest cave art in the world. This find has challenged the established interpretation that Europe was the birthplace of prehistoric rock"
"trade routes. Cave sites such as the world-famous Lascaux contain the best known examples of Magdalenian cave art. The site of Altamira in Spain, with its extensive and varied forms of Magdalenian mobiliary art has been suggested to be an agglomeration site where many small groups of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers congregated. In northern Spain and south-west France this tool culture was superseded by the Azilian culture. In northern Europe it was followed by different variants of the Tjongerian techno-complex. It has been suggested that key Late-glacial sites in south-western Britain also may be attributed to the Magdalenian, including the famous site"
"dating in a 2012 study. This is consistent with the tradition of cave painting originating in the Proto-Aurignacian, with the first arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe. A 2013 study of finger length ratios in Upper Paleolithic hand stencils found in France and Spain determined that the majority were of female hands, overturning the previous widely held belief that this art form was primarily a male activity. Cueva del Castillo was discovered in 1903 by Hermilio Alcalde del Río, a Spanish archaeologist, who was one of the pioneers in the study of the earliest cave paintings of Cantabria. The"
"Altamiro de la Cueva Altamiro de la Cueva is a Spanish comic strip series, created in 1965 by Joan Bernet Toledano and Carles Bech and published in the comic book magazine ""TBO"". The stories feature funny adventures about a bunch of prehistoric cavemen. Altamiro, the protagonist, is not the strongest nor the most powerful of his tribe, but he's witty, sagacious and favours his community. Altamiro is also an artist who paints on the walls of caves. His name is a clear reference to the Spanish Cueva de Altamira. The characters are physically the same as modern people, but they"
"and ideomorphs (including penises, vulvas, tools, and more abstract images). The cave and its paintings are little known to scholars outside Spain. Cueva de los Casares Cueva de los Casares is a cave in Riba de Saelices (Province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain). Discovered in 1933, it contains a number of paleolithic cave paintings, and is most notable for a series of paintings depicting what some have argued is the earliest representation of human understanding of the reproductive process, featuring images of copulation (perhaps mediated by a mysterious shaman figure), pregnancy, childbirth, and family life. Mammoths and other animals feature"
"guide and must be booked. Four languages are available. In 2016 the museum celebrated its 10th anniversary by sharing an exchange with the cave of Altamira museum - each museum lending to the other tens of its most valuable pieces. The cave is a superb example of artistic representations of the ancient natives of Gran Canaria. It and the village next to it are located in the town that used to be the capital of the island in pre-Hispanic times. Excavated by humans in volcanic material, its walls are decorated with geometrical patterns. The archaeologists think that, due to their"
"Cave of El Castillo The Cueva de El Castillo, or Cave of the Castle, is an archaeological site within the complex of the Caves of Monte Castillo, in Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain. The archaeological stratigraphy has been divided into around 19 layers, depending on the source they slightly deviate from each other, however the overall sequence is consistent, beginning in the Proto-Aurignacian, and ending in the Bronze Age. The El Castillo cave contains the oldest known cave painting: a large red stippled disk in the ""Panel de las Manos "" was dated to more than 40,000 years old using uranium-thorium"
"River, which gets its name from Hungarian ""Szilágy"" ""elm creek"", composed from ""szil"", ""elm"" and ""ágy"" ""riverbed"". On 28 July 1978, a team of speleologists discovered in the cave of Cuciulat Paleolithic paintings about 12,000 years old, unique in Romania. Called the ""Romanian Altamira"", this cave features several red paintings of animals, including horses and felines. These are the first manifestations of this kind known in Southeastern Europe. The first villages in the current territory of Sălaj County are 7,500 years old. The first ceramic pots in Sălaj area are about the same age. The first houses with several rooms"
"Gravettian cave art in 1906. He was (together with Breuill and Marcellin Boule) one of the founders of ""Institut de paléontologie humaine"" in Paris (following a generous donation from Albert I). When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola's daughter María discovered the paintings in Altamira and Sautuola, together with professor Vilanova, published their findings in 1880, Cartailhac was one of the leaders of the scientists who, suddenly facing a revolutionary change in the view of the prehistoric man, ridiculed these paintings at the 1880 Prehistorical Congress in Lisbon. Due to this opinion, the members of the congress did not even visit Altamira."
"of Pozo Moro"" or a napier's bones . Its collections of Roman mosaics, Greek ceramics, Islamic art and Romanesque art are very important. In addition, the museum has a reproduction of the roof of the polychromes of the Altamira Cave in an underground room under the outside garden. The Reina Sofía National Art Museum (""Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía"", abbreviated as MNCARS) is Madrid's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain's greatest 20th-century masters, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Juan Gris, and"
"Magura Cave The Magura Cave (from Bulgarian ""-gora"") is located in north-western Bulgaria close to the village of Rabisha, from the town of Belogradchik in Vidin Province. The prehistoric wall paintings of Magura have great resemblance with those of the Grotta dei Cervi in Italy, which are of exceptional expression and artistic depth and are considered the most significant works of art of the European Post-Paleolithic era. Guided visits are conducted by the staff of Belogradchik municipality, to which the management of the cave was transferred in 2012 by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers. In 1984 the site was induced"
"Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola or Marcelino de Sautuola was a Spanish jurist and amateur archaeologist who owned the land where the Altamira cave was found. The Altamira cave, now famous for its unique collection of prehistoric art, was well known to local people, but had not been given much attention until in 1868, when it was ""discovered"" by the hunter Modesto Peres. Sautuola then started exploring the caves in 1875. He did not become aware of the paintings, however, until 1879, when his daughter Maria, nine years old at the time, incidentally noticed that the"
"Cueva Ahumada Cueva Ahumada is an archaeological site located within several canyons in the La Rinconada village, García Municipality, in the Nuevo León state, México. Cave painting in northeastern Mexico covers two types of artwork: rock engraving, also called petroglyphs (Pictogram or pictographs). A third type of rock art, geoglyphs so far has not been detected in this region. Cave painting art is found in all human occupied continents, it is a world heritage, as proclaimed by UNESCO. Its antiquity goes back to the dawn of human prehistory. In France and Spain, the most ancient cave paintings date back to"