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The exhibition ‘Through the Footsteps of Man’ concerning the cave paintings from the sites of the Murcia Region

There will be guided tours through the prehistoric settlement of El Milano and a seminar coordinated by Miguel San Nicolás on the occasion of this exhibition, held jointly by la Casa Pintada and the City Council of Mula. 

La Fundación Casa Pintada-Museo Cristóbal Gabarrón (FCP) and the City of Mula this afternoon have presented the exhibition ‘Through the Footsteps of Man’ in which cave paintings from the sites of the Murcia Region are unveiled, particularly those from the prehistoric Abrigo de El Milano (Mula) thanks to the reproductions of Juan López del Toro. 

The exhibition, which will remain on view in room 1 of La Casa Pintada until May 31, seeks to emphasize the creative process of these irreproducible paintings and to raise awareness on the importance of preservation.  

In this way, thanks to the 13 reproductions carried out by Juan López del Toro and to be exhibited at la Casa Pintada, he gives a good account of the findings in the surrounding 80 sites of the Murcia Region and Humanitarian Heritage since 1998 where all the sites of the Mediterranean Arch were recognized by UNESCO. 

On the day of this exhibition, there will be a guided tour of la Casa Pintada and the site of El Milano the days of March 11 and 25. The tour will begin at la FCP at 10:00 a.m. followed by a tour of the site of prehistoric Mula with the local archaeologist José Antonio Zapata. In order to participate in this activity you must sign up by calling the Tourism Office of Mula (968-661-501). 

Furthermore, on March 2, from 10:00 to 2:00 p.m., the Head of Historical Heritage of the Independent Community of the Region of Murcia, Miguel San Nicolás, will give a seminar for the students from the Department of Literature of the University of Murcia (UMU). He will be accompanied by José Antonio Zapata Parra, Local Archaeologist from Mula; Consuelo Matamoros de Villa, Head of Historical Heritage Service of Valencia; Mauro S. Hernández Pérez, Professor of Prehistory of the University of Alicante; Rafael Martínez Valle, from the Valencia Institute of Preservation and Restoration; Liborio Ruiz Molina, Director of the Archaeological Museum of Yecla; and the topographers José Manuel Garriga Perea and Adela López González. Those interested in attending this seminar and are not members of the UMU should sign up by sending an email to nieves@gabarron.org. 


The Author

Juan López del Toro, born in Mula, studied Geography and History at the University of Murcia and at la UNED. His immense love for mountains and archeology puts him in touch with cave art, his great passion. It was in 2005 and during a visit to the cave paintings of “Cañaí Cadel Calar” in Moratalla in which several people with mobility problems were unable to contemplate the pictographs, when he thought that, in addition to enjoying the cave art, his vision and study, it would be interesting to “remove” the paintings from their said domain. Thus, through the exhibitions, the cave art would be able to reach all those who were interested. 

In that process of artistic reproduction, he has used minerals, binders and extenders similar to those which the prehistoric man used for his representations. With that, he has experimented with iron oxide, subjecting it to different processes in search of different colors that today’s cave art of the Mediterranean Arch is composed of, using the so-called method of experimental archaeology.  

Tribute to Dr.Pedro A. Lillo

The exhibition ‘Through the Footsteps of Man’ aims to also be a tribute to the doctor in Archaeology of the University of Murcia, Pedro A. Lillo, who was a teacher of every generation of archaeologists in the Murcia Region as he was for Juan López del Toro himself, to which he instilled in him his love for Prehistory. Author of several books and hundreds of specialized articles on archaeology and prehistory, he mainly emphasized his role as field archaeologist, conducting studies on the cave paintings found in La Risca (Moratalla) and excavations in the Iberian sites of Coimbra del Barranco Ancho and El Prado (Jumilla), Los Molinicos (Moratalla) and in la Necrópolis de El Cigarralejo (Mula), being a regular contributor of Mr. Emeterio Cuadrado.  

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Press Department:
Nieves Barnuevo. Tel. 968-662-762
nieves@gabarron.org