Age of the artistic representations: Facsimil of Magdalenian paintings.
General description of the destination: It has paintings of bison, horses, deer and more dating from the Magdalenian culture, over 14,000 years ago. The representations in the cave are valued for both their quality and arrangement, besides being very well conserved. These paintings are exceptionally preserved, thanks in large part to the fact that the cave was sealed for thousands of years. La Covaciella Cave is located in Las Estazadas Gorge and has a gallery of about 40 metres in length which opens onto a large chamber, divided into two by blocks that caved in before its discovery. The west side of the chamber is 11 x 13 metres and the east, 25 x 15 metres. The cave runs upwards from east to west for 80 metres in all. Its original entrance is a small hole to the northeast of the large chamber. From the time this was blocked off naturally until it was opened as a result of works, it had been left undisturbed by human beings.
History of the site: La Covaciella was discovered by chance in 1994. Due to its morphology and size it has never been opened to the public in order to preserve its artistic record.
Museographic resources description: In the Casa Bárcena, in Carreña de Cabrales, an interpretation centre on the Cave of La Covaciella and the cave art of the Cabrales Town Hall was installed. The central element of the exhibition is the replica of the large decorated panel in the cave. In addition, the interpretation centre houses several didactic panels on the themes, the techniques applied in the cave and the chronology of the representations. It is also possible, by means of a touch screen, to take a virtual tour of the original cave.
