ROCK ART IN THE NATIONAL PARK OF MONFRAGÜE

Google Maps:
39.773428, -6.009809

Tipo de sitio:
Rock-Shelters and Rock Art Interpretation Centre

Lugar de localización: Monfragüe National Park
Localidad: Torrejon el Rubio
Municipio: Torrejón el Rubio (Cáceres)
Región: Extremadura
País: España
Página Web: http://centrosurmonfrague.com/centro-arte-rupestre-monfrague/ https://www.turismocaceres.org/es/informacion-turistica/centro-de-interpretacion-de-pinturas-de-arte-rupestre

Entorno Natural:

Monfragüe National Park is one of the most important wildlife reserves in Extremadura and one of the best in Europe. It occupies an area of almost 18,000 hectares in the northeast of the province of Cáceres, between the towns of Plasencia and Trujillo, and is arranged as a complex succession of mountains that enclose its interior valleys, among which those formed by the confluence of the rivers Tajo and Tiétar stand out. The area became a National Park in 2006. The Mediterranean forest is very well-conserved, with a large range of wildlife, including some endangered species (golden eagle, black vulture, black stork, Iberian lynx). The quartzite mountains (Sierra de las Corchuelas, Peña Falcón, Sierra de Santa Catalina, Sierra de Mohedas, etc) frame the courses of the Rivers Tajo and Tiétar, which cross the centre of the park.

Evidencias arqueológicas del sitio:

The Monfragüe National Park, apart from its unquestionable environmental values, is home to one of the largest concentrations of cave art in the Iberian Peninsula with more than 110 painted shelters. Some of them can be visited by appointment, both in the area of Sierra de Santa Catalina (very close to the municipality of Serradilla), where the rock art merges with an exceptional landscape, and in the area of Salto del Angel, in the small town of Torrejón el Rubio.

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Horarios de apertura:

The timetable of the Rock Art Interpretation Centre of Torrejón el Rubio is from Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00h to 14:00h and from 17:00h to 21:15h, on Sundays from 10:00h to 14:00h and from 17:00h to 20:00h. To visit El Castillo Rock-shelter is neccessary to call the Interpretation centre before.

Acceso y reservas:

To visit the rock shelters of Monfragüe it is necessary to have an appointment: telephones (+34) 685572015 / (+34) 927455292; e-mail: arterupestre@torrejonelrubio.es, turismotorrejonelrubio@gmail.com, ciarmonfrague@gmail.com

Destinos culturales cercanos:

Serradilla (20 km). Cáceres (75 km). Plasencia (38 km). Trujillo (39 km). Mérida (125 km).

Destinos naturales cercanos:

The rock art is in the heart of Monfragüe National Park, possibly the best natural destination in Extremadura.

Alojamientos (Web turística):
https://www.extremadura.com/paginas/parque-nacional-de-monfrague-caceres/donde-dormir
Restaurantes (Web turística):
https://www.extremadura.com/paginas/parque-nacional-de-monfrague-caceres/donde-comer

Cronología de las representaciones rupestres:

From the Epipalaeolithic to the Iron Age.

Descripción general del destino:

The Interpretation Centre of Rock Art of Monfragüe National Park is located in Torrejón el Rubio. It is a unique museum setting, essential for discovering the rock art wealth of the Park and the place from where visits are organised to the Ashelters of Cañamero area and to the El Castillo shelter, located next to the access to the medieval castle of Monfragüe and overlooking the “Salto del Gitano”. This is one of the most important sites with cave art in Spain. It houses a succession of paintings ranging from the Epipalaeolithic to the Bronze Age. Its upper panel of anthropomorphs is one of the most famous and valued of the world’s schematic art. In El Castillo Rock-shelter we can discover a group of eight panels, where a large series of prehistoric art can be viewed; mainly paintings but also engravings. The figures include anthropomorphs, animals and symbolic motifs (lines, dots, angles, sun-shapes, etc). A Tartessian inscription (5th century BC), in black, has also been conserved. Interpretaton centre at Torrejón el Rubio: Permanent exhibition about the chronological and cultural context of the rock art sites discovered in the National Park of Monfragüe, in the Tajo River Valley.

Descripción de los recursos museográficos:

The Interpretation centre of Torrejón el Rubio is composed of 4 buildings that recreate prehistoric huts. In each of them a different theme is developed: – HUT 1. The Cave Paintings in Monfragüe. An approach to the cave paintings of Monfragüe is made through the historical contextualization, the pictorial technique, the main motives of the paintings, as well as approaching the method of life of the society of the time. – HUT 2. Recreation of a Neolithic Hut. Visitors will be able to see what one of the houses of the Neolithic period looked like, where part of the paintings that exist in Monfragüe are made.- HUT 3. The Wakes of Torrejón. We approach the final bronze age where a very interesting cultural phenomenon takes place: the stelae stones. In Torrejón there were five of them whose replicas we can see in the centre. We also deal with social and cultural aspects, as well as an approach to the metallurgy and the trousseau of the time, so important in the symbolism of the steles. – HUT 4. The traces of the past. We explain in a very simple way how the paintings were made, from the manufacture of the pigment to the execution of the paintings.