protection and conservation

Aranzadi Science Society

Project: The replica__________

Following the discovery, a whole series of problems arose between the public authorities and the Prehistory Department of the Aranzadi Science Society. These were the years of the great Spanish tourism boom, when too many sacrifices were being made for quick profit. Even the press accused the Aranzadi Science Society of wanting to lock culture up behind bars and demanded that it open the cave to the public immediately.

The Aranzadi Science Society, which since its foundation in 1947 had been in charge of looking after the prehistoric heritage of Gipuzkoa, argued that its opening to the public would result in the loss of this treasure and deprive future generations of any knowledge of the cave. Despite these arguments, the post of commissariat of archaeological excavations of the Province of Gipuzkoa, held by the Society until that time, was taken from it by the Spanish Ministry of Education.