The Nerja Caves Foundation has decided to apply for World Heritage status for the Nerja Caves. If successful the Nerja Caves would join the Mosque of Córdoba, the Alhambra in Granada and the Doñana National Park on the UNESCO list of worldwide sites that are of of special cultural or physical significance.
However this isn’t the first time that the Nerja Caves has attempted to be included in this prestigious list, having made attempts to apply in 2002, 2003 and 2009 all of which came to nothing.
The caves were discovered in modern times by five young men out exploring in the countryside near to Maro in 1959, when they found the first entrance to the caves. Since then the caves have grown to be the biggest tourist attraction in this part of Spain, attracting thousands of visitors every year to see the fantastic formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and other dazzling natural rock structures.
The caves also contain what are believed to be the oldest cave paintings know to man – experts claim that the six paintings of seals are at least 42,000 years old and are the only known artistic images created by Neanderthal man.
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