Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

The Biosphere Reserve and the World Heritage Site of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria are the very essence and reflection of the island’s unique qualities, acknowledged in these two UNESCO declarations.

The magic of the Gran Canaria Biosphere Reserve is swaddled in a murmur of nature and human heartbeats. On the one hand, the space shows the thousand faces of the Island’s landscape. The other faces of the land are far from metaphoric. They belong to the men and women who have proven their close links to the environment through traces of rural uses, such as the case of lime ovens, tar or fish ovens, charcoal bunkers and windmills. Life literally relied on nature, as shown in the use of pine needles to fill mattresses and plump up the place where livestock slumbered.

Gran Canaria is one of those extraordinary places brimming with archaeological, ethnographic, artistic and natural treasures of worldwide importance.

Some places stand out for their nature. In others, their historical or artistic legacy shines particularly brightly. There are also sites recognised the world over for their traditions. And finally, there are lands that seem to practically have it all. Gran Canaria forms part of this select list of places that really stand out for a full array of wonders.

The Interpretation Centre of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape highlights the values of this World Heritage site.

There was a time when the aborigines of Gran Canaria were able to create a bond between Heaven and Earth. It happened on the island’s highlands. Those people created a unique world with their own hands, involving the starts in the process. The most spectacular example of this dialogue between humans, the Sun and the Moon, happened eight centuries ago, in a cavity located at 1200 m of altitude, excavated in volcanic rock. The sunlight and the silver halo of the full moon magically came through the rectangular skylight designed for the purpose, giving light, in turns, to each one of the figures engraved on the walls of Risco Caído cave number six. But there was nothing magical about it, only observation, technique and belief.

Risco Caído, discovered in 1996, is a shining example of Gran Canaria’s extraordinary archaeological legacy.

There are many timeless, mysterious places hidden away in the depths of Gran Canaria. Here, on an island that is visited by millions of tourists every year, long lost secrets continue to come to light up in the mountains. One of the most remarkable cases is the almogarén, a sacred site at Risco Caído, a place where aborigenes on the island would carry out rituals linked to astronomical cycles, with a sacred symbolism, at the heart of the colossal volcanic crater of Tejeda.