More than 100 years ago (1921), a world pioneering exhibition in Madrid, marked the beginning of the large-scale dissemination of the oldest art created by human beings.

The exhibition brought together two decades of documentation and study made by Spanish, French and German researchers. But it was not only a question of giving visibility to research, often carried out with limited resources and in a heroic way, in caves and places with difficult access. It also tried to transmit to a public, which had not yet discovered cultural tourism, the greatness of this primitive art.

One of the first results of this exhibition, was the entrance of prehistoric art into museums, first through representations that would eventually evolve into more complex formulas, in an attempt to involve the spectator in the environment that the art was created.

The 1921 exhibition of Prehistoric Art was ultimately considered a landmark in the history of prehistoric art. It resulted in these manifestations now being universally recognised and many of them, distinguished as World Cultural Heritage.

The inauguration of the exhibition’ under the responsibility of the Côa Park Foundation and the National Museum of Archaeology (Madrid) – will take place on 12th February, 3 p.m., at the Côa museum, and will be attended by the curators Eduardo Galán and Ruth Maicas.

The exhibition will be patent in the Côa museum from February 12th to May 12th, 2022.