Altamira Museum

The National Museum and Research Centre of Altamira works for the conservation, research and dissemination of the Altamira Caves located in the Spanish town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria.

Discovered at the end of the nineteenth century and declared a World Heritage Site in 1985, the cave is home to one of the most important prehistoric paintings in the world. Given the importance of the paintings and the large number of people interested in seeing the caves, an exact replica of the paintings was created. In 2001 the reproduction of the passage of polychromatic paintings or the Great Roof of Altamira was completed, using the same drawing, etching and painting techniques used by the Palaeolithic artists.