The museum that relates the history of Nerja since the Palaeolithic Era opens its doors

Nerja’s history museum, an area that will allow locals and tourists to take a tour through the history of this town in the province of Malaga, from the Palaeolithic Era to the tourist boom in the 1960’s, will open its doors to the public this Tuesday, coinciding with the celebration of the Constitution Day.

Angela Ramirez, the manager of the Nerja Cave Foundation, the organization that promoted the construction of the museum, and Jose Alberto Armijo, Mayor of Nerja and vice-president of this foundation, have announced the official opening of the premises, that, although it was inaugurated in March, has remained closed since then until it obtained the mandatory municipal opening and first occupation licenses.

Ramirez declared to the press the “enormous satisfaction” he feels to be able to announce the opening of the museum; a project that “over the years has been through difficult times, technically, economically and even politically, but all of that is now behind us, we have successfully pulled through it all and it was worth it”.

After building and equipping the museum and having finalised all the paperwork that will allow this equipment to start functioning, Ramirez has made very clear that “this great project has not finished; in fact, it’s only the beginning. It’s a creature that has just been born and must yet develop, and must be looked after”.

The manager has emphasised the importance of this museum for the municipality, as, amongst other benefits, “it will provide Nerja with a great cultural patrimony, it will increase the town’s cultural and scientific heritage, it will create a patrimony for the Foundation, that will be consolidated as an institution this way, and will dynamize the economy of Nerja and its businesses, that will finally see a dream of many years come true”.

The Museum of Nerja’s History, in which they invested approximately five million euros in its construction and equipment, is situated very near the Town Hall and the emblematic ‘Balcony of Europe’ and, in a 1.800 square meter radius, it exhibits, amongst other elements, original pieces of a high archaeological value found inside the Nerja Cave, that belong to the Era in which it was inhabited.

The visitors are offered a guided audio-visual tour through the history of the municipality, from the arrival of the first settlers in the Nerja Cave in the Palaeolithic Era to the tourist boom in the 60’s decade of the 20th Century, just after the discovery of the cave in 1959 and its opening to the public a year later.

As well as the permanent exhibition, in which they show the traces and archaeological material of the town’s history, the musuem, that hopes for an influx of around 80.000 to 100.000 visitors each year, will also dedicate an area to temporary exhibitions of all kinds.