Grutas de las Maravillas

Grotto of the Wonders - Gruta de Aracena

Useful Information

Location:	C/ Pozo de la Nieve, s/n. 21200. Aracena (HUELVA). Ciudad de Aracena, north east Huelva. 89 km from Sevilla, 70 km from the border to Portugal. From Seville or Portugal N-433, from Extremadura N-435, from Huelva N-435. (37.8910555, -6.5658646)
Open:	All year Mon-Fri 10:30-13:30, 15-18, Sat, Sun, Hol 10:30-13:30, 15-19. Closed 24-DEC, 25-DEC, 31-DEC. Online booking recommended. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 20, Children (6-12) EUR 16, Children (0-5) free, Seniors (65+) EUR 18. Groups (20+): Adults EUR 18, School Pupils EUR 15. Visita Técnica Geológica: Adults EUR 40. Reportajes Fotográficos: Adults EUR 300. [2010]
Classification:	Karst Cave. Lower Cambrian marble.
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	T=16-19 °C, H=98-100 %, L=2,130 m.
Guided tours:	D=45 min, L=1,200 m, Max=1,000/d.
Photography:
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Manuel Rodríguez García et al. (2011): La Gruta de las Maravillas - Tesoro de Aracena - Aracena’s Treasure, Arunda Comunicación. pdf
Address:	Gruta de las Maravillas, Calle Pozo de la Nieve, s/n, 21200 Aracena, Huelva, Tel: +34-663-937876. E-mail: Oficina Municipal de Turismo de Aracena, Calle Pozo de la Nieve, s/n, 21200 Aracena, Huelva, Tel: +34-663-937877. turismo@ayto-aracena.es
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1850	an old mine was discovered under the Castle Hill and published in the newspaper ‘El Porvenir’ in Sevilla.
1853	silver mine opened by the ‘La Independiente’ Mining Society.
1886	the mining engineer Gonzalo y Tarín mentions the cave for the first time./td>
1896	cave mentioned by Puig y Larraz in his book Caverns and potholes in Spain.
1914	opened to the public, first show cave in Spain.
1915	cave first visited by King Alfonso XIII.
1929	visit by King Alfonso XIII and the Royal Family.
1926	a group of workers doing maintenance work, explore the lakes find new galleries, which were later added to the tour.
1957	filming location for Faustina by José Luis Sáez Heredia, starring the actor Fernando Fernán Gómez.
1959	filming location for the Hollywood blockbuster Journey to the Centre of the Earth directed by Henry Levin.
1962	filming location for Clash of the Titans by Duccio Tessari.
1973	filming location for Tarzan and King Salomon’s Mines by José Luis Merino.
1986	area around the entrance renovated, Open-Air Contemporary Art Museum (MACA) created.
1987	explored and surveyed by the Grupo de Exploraciones Subterráneas (GES, Underground Exploration Group) of Sociedad Excursionista de Málaga (SEM, Malaga Excursion Society).
1999	filming location for Yerma by Pilar Távora, starring Aitana Sánchez-Gijón.
2014	for the 100th anniversary, two new sections of the cave, La Palmatoria and Los Banquetes, were added to the cave tour.

Description

This Grutas de las Maravillas (Cave of Wonders) is an extraordinary decorated cave. Huge halls and passages decorated with all the speleothem you expect: stalagmites, stalactites, straws and shawls. Quite spectacular is the wealth of gours, pisolites, eccentrics, calcite pavements, and curtains. The cave has several cave pools, which are full of calcite crystals. And the 70 m high salón del gran lago (hall of the great lake) contains a big subterranean lake.

The cave is lighted by indirect light, and a sound system allows the playback of music. They play the sinfonía del agua by the local musician Luis de Pablo and the suite Gruta de las Maravillas by Don Primitivo Lázaro.

The system is located is a small outcrop of lower Cambrian marble, limestone which was metamorphized by high pressure and temperature. It forms a hill in the middle of the city Aracena, with the Castelo de Aracena on top. In other words, the cave is located in the town centre of Aracena. Its discovery is connected to the mining activities at the town. After the discovery of a much older mine, silver mining was started in the mid-19th century. Decades later, the cave was mentioned for the first time by a mining engineer, it was obviously discovered during the mining. When a new company, the Metalúrgica de Barcelona, received a concession to explore the "Castle Mines", they first started building an access tunnel. This was most likely the artificial entrance tunnel which is used until today. But it seems the mining related discovery was not spectacular enough, and so the following two stories were told:

Uncle Blas lost a lamb while his herd was grazing on the Castle slopes. In his attempt to find it, he went down a gap like a silo (which was very common in this area) and came across the cave.

A beautiful miller girl fell in love with a rock goblin named Blas. He sweet-talked her into living in an underground palace with him.

The locals learned about the cave and soon started to visit the cave. Unfortunately, they also discovered the collection of souvenirs and destroyed many spectacular speleothems. The locals talked about a water-well covered in snow, a name which was later given to the road where the cave entrance is located. The name of the road is today Pozo de la Nieve (Well of Snow), after the white speleothems. And there were the first ideas to develop it as a show cave. The idea was realized by Francisco Javier Sánchez-Dalp, Marqués de Aracena, and Juan del Cid, the mayor of the town between 1912 and 1915. Development starting in 1912 ended with the opening of the showcave in September 1914. Francisco Javier Sánchez-Dalp commissioned Aníbal González to make a new entrance building for the show cave in 1923. He used the marble in which the cave developed, to frame the visitor’s entrance.

In the beginning, the tour was a return tour, visitors had to turn around at the end and return on the same trail. This changed in 1926, when a group of workers doing maintenance work decided to explore the lakes. They found new galleries which were soon added to the tour, and allowed a round tour. In these early decades, the show cave was operated by the Asociación de Amigos de la Gruta (Association of Cave Friends). In 1932, the recently established Republic decided to give the ownership as well as the management to the municipality of Aracena. They are quite proud that "the inhabitants of Aracena are the owners of this jewel of nature", but actually our impression of such municipal management is not that optimistic. Both types of management exist in abundance, and in general it's better to have people who care for the cave than simple bureaucrats. However, the municipality of Aracena did a good job, and today the city with the cave, the Ham Museum, the castle and numerous other sites is a place where you should spend at least a full day.

As often with show caves, there is no actual speleological exploration. Many cave owners have problems with cavers in "their" cave. Here it actually took almost a century, until finally the Grupo de Exploraciones Subterráneas (GES, Underground Exploration Group) of Sociedad Excursionista de Málaga (SEM, Malaga Excursion Society) researched the cave. They discovered new passages, made a full resurvey, and even started new research projects. Since the early 1990s, there were numerous new researches by the Department of Geology of the University of Granada. They explored not only the speleothems and the cave animals, they also validated the influence of visitors on the cave environment. As a result, they limited the number of daily visits to the cave, to conserve its natural conditions and prevent its deterioration. On their website, the cave states that they "cannot guarantee that tickets will be available at the box office." It is to promote the online ticket system, obviously, but they do not mention the basic reason. This cave is protected by the limitation of the daily visitors, only 1,000 visitors are allowed per day. As a result, the cave may be booked out on most weekends and many weekdays during the peak season. So it is definitely a good idea to book in advance.