Issue date: 05 Oct, 2020
WORLD HERITAGE.
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF RISCO CAÍDO AND THE SACRED MOUNTAINS
OF GRAN CANARIA
On 7 July 2019, in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s 43rd session, the Cultural Landscape of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria were added to this important list.
The stamp, an intaglio whose main feature is one of the area’s mountain peaks, is framed in a mini sheet with a general view of the landscape.
The place abounds with spectacular natural sites, including caves with traces of human existence since ancestral times.
Some of these caves are located on the left bank of the lower course of the Barranco Hondo, a place rich in palaeontological remains. Also known as Risco Maldito, this ancient settlement has been abandoned since the middle of the 20th century.
One of the caves, known as C6, is believed to have been a sacred temple or a meeting place for the Faycanes, the priests. One peculiarity of the cave is its vaulted structure with a man-made hole in it that produces an original optical effect on the images engraved on the wall of the cave when penetrated with light.
The mountainous centre of the island is of special interest because of its morphology and biodiversity.
It is also the meeting point of the two cultures from which current Canary Island society originates, one from the north of Africa, probably reaching Gran Canaria around the turn of the era, and a European civilisation that made its way to the island at the dawn of the Modern Age.
Many elements and traditions emerged from this symbiosis, some of which have been lost and others, such as the sacred aura given to these mountains, that are very much alive.
As this mini sheet portrays, this is a hugely spectacular place with a certain halo of magic.
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