El Caminito del Rey Path and its surroundings for the inclusion on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List

CTR La Garganta adhere to the nomination proposal. And you? Do you want El Caminito and its surroundings to join on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List? Support the nomination and let’s make it possible.

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CTR La Garganta support the nomination

Along centuries, El Caminito del Rey and seven monuments have converged around our Rural Tourist Complex, framed in three areas: the industrial heritage, the Neolithic sites and the privileged natural environment.

We want to show the world the uniqueness of our region, our history and the spectacular enclaves that you can find in just 20 kilometers.

Help us to do it!

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Get to know the nomination proposal

El Caminito del Rey and its surroundings

CTR La Garganta want to support the nomination of El Caminito del Rey Path and its surroundings for the inclusion on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The proposal is based on 7 monuments, placed along less than 20 kilometres.

All the outstanding heritage should belong to humankind as an everlasting legacy. In order to make sure these aims are achieved there is to perform the registration and conservation of the sites.

The monuments are the Natural Beauty Spot Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, which is a gorge; El Chorro or the Count of Guadalhorce’s Reservoir and Gaitanejo Dam; the walkways over the waterfall in the hydroelectric power complex El Chorro; El Chorro Train Station and the bridges over the Gaitanes Goorge, as well as the Palaeolithic Cave in Ardales and Las Aguilillas Necropolis or the Bobastro Mozarabic cave country chapel.

7 unique places:

Desfiladero de los Gaitanes Natural Environment
El Chorro Dam/Conde de Guadalhorce and Gaitanejo Dams
Hydroelectric power complex El Chorro
El Chorro Train Station and the bridges over the Gaitanes Goorge
Palaeolithic Cave in Ardales.
Aguilillas Necropolis.
The ruins of the mythical Bobastro Fortress

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Outstanding Universal Value of the Project

Three different but connected issues make this site an outstanding location regarding its geographical features: there have been settlements since prehistoric times and it is of industrial importance.

Unique Geographical Features

The rivers Guadalhorce, Guadalteba and Turón which meet at the entrance to the Gaitanes Gorge. Their source is in the northern side of the Baetic System but they flow together along the canyons of El Chorro into the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, the Guadalhorce runs through this site along two gorges, Gaitanejo and Gaitanes, and Hoyo Valley.

Human presence since the Palaeolithic

This nature site has been important for development of some humans’ settlements in the surroundings of the Gaitanejo Natural Beauty Spot and El Chorro village since prehistory. Three details show how important the area was for humankind.

Firstly, there are Neanderthal remains and some cave paintings in the Ardales Cave. The latter is the oldest art in the world as it is more than 66,000 years old.

Moreover, we have the megalithic tombs in Las Aguilillas Necropolis from the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.

Thirdly, there is Bobastro, a place where Umar ibn Hafsun settled and established his headquarters in 880 AD.

Industrial Heritage

Train Station

The first to be built was a railway between Córdoba and Málaga which was ended in 1866. Since then, the train station at El Chorro in Álora has played an important role for building the Hydroelectric Power Complex.

Hydro Power Complex

With the growing need for new services in towns and cities it was necessary to generate more electricity, in this order, it was built Dams and Waterfalls such as El Chorro Hydroelectric Power Plant, Cambutas Dam (later Gaitanejo dam), and El Chorro Reservoir. Years later, the Guadalhorce and Guadalteba Dams were built.