Valerón's "monastery" (in Spanish ''cenobio de Valerón'') is an archaeological site on the Spanish island of Grand Canary, in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Santa Maria de Guia, on Valerón's cliff. It is the largest pre-Hispanic collective granaryVisit the "Cenobio de Valerón"
on the site of the Tourism office. built before Roman times and used by the island's inhabitants until the conquest of the island at the end of the 15th century. Close to

Gáldar Gáldar is a town and a Spanish municipality in the north of the island of Gran Canaria in the Province of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Its population is (2013),Painted cave, it is one of the emblematic sites of Grand Canary and is listed as a Spanish

Property of cultural interest Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

Location

It is located (in direct line) south of the northern coast of the

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...

island, on the small GC-291 road, near

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...

( east) and Agaete ( south-west) (see § "Access" for more details). Galdar is about west in direct line. The site overlooks the San Felipe ravine, a north-orientated funnel-shaped valley crossed over by a large bridge for the GC-2 motorway.''Concurso para la ordenación del parque arqueológico del Cenobio de Valerón - Santa Maria de Guia - Gran Canaria''
, part 1. Parts 2 and 3 are linked to i
this page
under the article. The place was chosen for its easy-to-dig

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

, for the fact that it is hidden from the sea and for its extremely steep access slopes that make good natural defences.''El Cenobio de Valerón''
on the site of the ''Unidad de Patrimonio Histórico del Cabildo de Gran Canaria''. This page includes a short video showing 2 types of openings on cavities, and how some were hidden from view. It also includes a citation dating from the time of their Spanish conquest, that describes this type of caves on the islands.The uTube vide
''Cenobio de Valerón caves archaeological site - Gran Canaria''
shows in details all that can be seen from outside the caves, including from 1'21 to 1'28 a panoramic view of the surroundings as seen from the entrance of the caves complex; the sea is not in sight. The beginning of the video shows the surroundings, its steep slopes and difficult access.

Description

The collective granary known as "''cenobio de Valerón''" is a complex system of caves on several levels: 298 compartments with surfaces between one and three square meters, distributed on 8 levels. Altogether with silos, rooms, caves and cavities, there are more than 350 storage places. They were excavated with stone and wood tools in the soft

- cemented volcanic

tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they re ...

- in the north-west face of the mountain known nowadays as Mountain of the Galician ("''Montaña del Gallego''"). The easy defence of the site, the natural shelter offered by a natural arch in the mountain and the conditions of temperature and dampness were making it ideal for its use. The caves or silos are of varied forms and sizes, communicating somewhat with each other, and they are grouped on several superposed levels. The steps excavated in the rock still exist and they may have been complemented with stairs or scaffoldings and ropes, of which there are no archaeological remains. The caves were shut with doors made of unknown material, which left traces. These are believed to have been made of wood, stone slabs or soft materials like textile or leather. A few stone slabs have remainedCenobio de Valeron
section "''El yacimiento arqueologico''". On ''arqueologiacanaria.com''. and it seems that when wooden doors were used they received a seal (''pintadera'') to indicate the owner. Their holes, as well as other grooves, were sealed in addition by an ashen mortar. All this aimed at preserving the crops. Within the site are found idols, paintings, ceramics, human bones and ashes, which are believed to have belonged to those who were guarding the granary. Accounts dating from the Spanish conquest mention towers framing the caves.
on ''archive.archaeology.org''. The sheer size of the caves complex is witness to the importance of agriculture on Gran Canary, for subsistence but also for the society's socio-political structure; and of the power of its governing casts. Alone on that among the Canary islands that all favoured stock-breeding, Gran Canary's agriculture was dominated by plantations, with much of these being grains.

Origin of the name

The name of "monastery" comes from the Roman belief that herein had lived some celibate priestesses called "''harimaguadas''", with whom young women of noble class came to live until their marriage (this society was

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

). The above-mentioned vision prevailed up to the 20th century, when Guy Marcy, a French archaeologist, was the first to recognize its real use as being obviously similar to that of other structures of the island and of north Africa. In addition, some of the chronicles mention the practice of preserving the food in crags of difficult access. The North African granaries or ''agadirs'' often have a common storage area, guarded by the community to which it belongs, with chambers used and maintained by individuals.

Similar structures

Other similar granary structures on the island are : * King's caves (''cuevas del Rey'') and (Sp. ''Roque Bentayga'') in Tejeda * Caves of the Granary (''cuevas del Pósito'') near Temisas,

Agüimes Agüimes is a Spanish town and municipality in the eastern part of the island of Gran Canaria in the Las Palmas province in the Canary Islands. Presentation Agüimes is situated 5 km from the coast, and 26 km south of the island capi ...

* El Álamo site near Acusa, Artenara * the Numerous caves (Sp. ''cuevas Muchas'') in the Guayadeque ravine (Sp. ''barranco de Guayadeque''), Ingenio * Anzofé site near Galdar * La Montañeta near Moya * Caves of the Dove (''cuevas del Palomar'') near Tabuco, Ingenio * ''La Isleta'' near

* ''Barranco de Silva'' near

Telde Telde is a town and a municipality in the eastern part of the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, overseas (Atlantic) insular Spain. It is the second most populous municipality on the island, with a population of (2013).

* (''cuevas del Draguillo'') in El Gamonal (

), between

and Ingenio * ''Los Pilares'' cave in the Four Doors cave site, Telde complex near Telde * Tara site in

* Temisas in Aguimes * Rosiana site in

San Bartolomé de Tirajana San Bartolomé de Tirajana is a village and a Spanish municipality in the south-eastern part of the island of Gran Canaria in the Las Palmas province in the Canary Islands. With an area of , San Bartolomé de Tirajana is the largest municipa ...

* Cueva de la AudienciaThe cave of the Audience (''cueva de la Audiencia''), in the Four Doors cave site complex near

, is a cave settlement hewn out of the rock by hand and has been used for various functions such as sleeping quarters, kitchens, silos, granary and others. in the Four Doors cave site on Bermeja mountain, Telde * Birbique in Roque Bermejo,

Agaete Agaete is a municipality of Las Palmas province, on the Canary Islands, Spain. Geography It is in the north-west of Gran Canaria island, and is enclosed by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Gáldar to the north-east, and Artenara to the south. ...

All are located in the north-west, north and north-east of the island. Although a few caves were dug in isolated locations, most of them are near the sea coast and are concentrated, often in large groups. The largest structures are near the two towns that were the main population centres in pre-Hispanic times: Telde and Galdar. Some of the main artificial cave sites of the island are located in the relative vicinity of the Painted cave (''cuevas del Hospital'', ''Huertas del Rey'' or the Audience cave at the Four Doors cave site).

Protection

Valerón's Monastery was declared Historical Artistic Monument on October 14, 1978, by royal decree 2.756/78. Due to the current law, 16/85 of June 25, 1985 on Historical Spanish Heritage, it became a

in the category of "Archaeological site". The site belongs to the Santa María de Guía's municipality, being inscribed in the Municipal Inventory of Built Properties, and in the Land registry of Property of urban nature. In 2010 was undertaken a large restoration program that included the rehabilitation of the historic San Felipe footpath used of old by the locals to access the caves.''Proyecto de rehabilitación del Cenobio de Valerón y su entorno''
("Rehabilitation project of the Valeron caves and their funnel-shaped valley"). The site was shut for 2 years. Nowadays the site is open to the public as archaeological park, and is included in the Network of archaeological parks of Grand Canary. The latter also includes the archaeological sets of Arteara necrópolis in Fataga, the necropolis in

, the ''Cañada de Los Gatos'' by Mogán's beach,

Bentayga Rock The Bentley Bentayga is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV produced by Bentley Motors since late 2015. It is the first SUV to be produced by the brand. Its body is manufactured at the Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant in Germany, then painted by Pai ...

(''Roque Bentayga'') in Tejeda, the Guayadeque ravine (''barranco de Guayadeque'') in Ingenio near

, the Painted cave (''cueva Pintada'') in Galdar, and the Four Doors cave site (''Cuatro Puertas'') in

Access

The main access to the GC-291 road is immediately east of ''Albercon de la Virgen'', from exit 20 on the 2 x 2 lanes "''carretera Variante de Silva''" GC-2 highway that goes from Agaete (11 km north-east) and Las Palmas (23 km west); or indirectly from exit 21 (''Llano Parra'', GC-292, GC-70, Guia, Artenara) of the same GC-2 highway. At exit n° 20 on both directions are indicated the Felix Santiago Meliàn factory, the GC-291 and the ''cenobio de Valeron'' - the latter being about 4 km from exit 20.
The other end of the GC-291 road (eastways) joins again the GC-2 road near San Felipe in the direction of Las Palmas (not that of Agaete), but the traffic cannot exit the GC-2 either way. The site is open for visits all year round from Tuesday to Sunday, except for a few special days (Boxing day, Xmas, New year,...).Cenobio de Valerón
on the site of the Tourism office. The caves themselves are off-limits for reasons of security and preservation, and the site is fenced in and shut at night. Since the recent rehabilitation works, the site now offers a discovery circuit with information panels along the path, maquettes and other media for visitors. File:Cenobio de Valerón (2).jpg,

Location

Description

Origin of the name

Similar structures

Protection

Access

See also

Connected articles

Bibliography

External links

Notes and references

Notes

References