Cantabria is a land of art. So much so that its history is already 36,000 years old. Our ancestors illuminated the walls of the caves where they sought shelter with art, creating a gallery that depicts the emergence of human creative talent. In Altamira – whose multiple rooms and galleries form a 270-metre complex – Palaeolithic humans settled for about 22,000 years and etched the first geometric shapes, lines and figures, at first abstractly. From there, their expression grew increasingly complex, culminating between 17,000 and 15,000 B.C.E. in what we now call the Sistine Chapel of cave art: the Great Ceiling of the Polychrome Bison. In the Great Hall of Altamira, the cave dwellers painted horses, deer, and, above all, bison as though wishing to create a miniature zoo. They depicted animals they encountered every day with care and detail, using charcoal for the outlines and iron oxide for the inside, while playing with the cave’s rock formations to add relief to their images.

We know that the Bison Room is a collective work of art. Its excellent state of preservation has made it possible to identify 16 bison, two deer and at least two horses. Some of these figures are superimposed on others, leading us to think that not all the images were painted at the same time. In the same room, we also find some very human pictorial expressions: hand stencils on the wall. In the Final Gallery, the last section of Altamira, archaeological work has revealed the outline of a small child’s hand. For conservation purposes, the original cave can only be visited by specialists who care for and preserve the art of early humanity. However, excellent museum management – the first museum dedicated to the cave, its art and its archaeological remains opened over a century ago – has led to the creation of the Neocueva, an exact reconstruction that allows visitors to experience what Altamira was like 13,000 years ago. The cave, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985, is located in the medieval town of Santillana del Mar, which is on the list of Spain’s Most Beautiful Villages.

Comillas is another of the municipalities that make up this prestigious ranking. A symbol of Cantabria, which served as a holiday destination for the Spanish nobility since the late 19th century, it offers extraordinary examples of modernist architecture. This style arrived in the town at the request of Antonio López y López, the first Marquis of Comillas, who returned to Spain after making his fortune in Cuba. He established himself in the shipping and railway industries and formed a close friendship with King Alfonso XII, who honoured him with the title of Marquis of Comillas. In 1881, López y López invited the monarch to spend the summer in Comillas, the first town in Spain with electric street lighting, installed at the express request of the marquis.

Although the Marquis of Comillas lived in Barcelona, he entrusted the construction and renovation of great masterpieces to the best Catalan architects. He commissioned Joan Martorell i Montells – Gaudí’s mentor and the introducer of the neogothic style in Spain – to design the Palacio de Sobrellano palace, a monumental work conceived in the 1870s to become his summer residence. The Palacio de Sobrellano, which can now be visited on 45-minute guided tours, was built in a neogothic style but with elements of modernist aesthetics. One of the palace’s most recognisable features, the façade is a Carrejo stone gallery with a colonnade topped with fleur-de-lis (a nod to the Bourbons), all crafted by the sculptor Joan Roig. The interior includes stained-glass windows from Eudaldo Amigó’s studio, paintings by Eduardo Llorens and furniture by a young Antoni Gaudí.

It was in 1883 that the latter designed El Capricho, the summer villa of Máximo Díaz de Quijano, the Marquis of Comillas’ brother-in-law. The building, located on land adjacent to the Palacio de Sobrellano, was designed during Gaudí’s Orientalist period, which is reflected in its appearance through the influence of architectural elements from Persia, India and even Japan and – above all – from Mudéjar and Nasrid art, symbols of the Iberian Peninsula’s cultural heritage. Its famous minaret, the use of floral tiles, curved lines, and the intricate designs of the floor plan and interior make this work, rich in symbolism, a matchless modernist gem. El Capricho is one of the only three works Gaudí designed outside of Catalonia in his entire life. Today, tourists can visit the museum inside, with extended hours during spring and summer.

In addition to these two major works, the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner contributed with projects such as the building of the former Pontifical University of Comillas, enhanced with striking historicist elements; the expansion of the Comillas Cemetery, whose façade was declared a Cultural Heritage Site and on which stands the sculpture El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) by Josep Llimona; and the monumental Fuente de los Tres Caños (Fountain of the Three Spouts).

Another great art centre is Santander. The capital of Cantabria is home to spaces such as the Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Santander y Cantabria museum, which houses significant works like the Portrait of Fernando VII painted by Francisco de Goya in 1814. However, the crown jewel is the Centro Botín, an internationally renowned institution around which contemporary artistic activity in Cantabria revolves. In an unbeatable location, facing the bay, stands the building of Renzo Piano, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1998, and Luis Vidal. The construction, which features a double structure and a ceramic façade designed to reflect the blue of the sea, houses more than 3,500 m² of space for art exhibitions and educational and cultural activities. Operated by the Marcelino Botín Foundation and opened in 2017, the Botín Centre features programming such as the MARUJA MALLO: Mask and Compass exhibition organised in collaboration with the Museo Reina Sofía museum. The exhibition, which can be visited until 14 September, revisits the artistic mastery of one of the key figures of Spanish surrealism, a contemporary and friend of notable figures such as Dalí, Lorca, Miguel Hernández, Rosa Chacel and Buñuel.

For those who wish to immerse themselves in contemporary art, Cantabria will also host the ARTESANTANDER fair from 11 to 15 July, celebrating its 33rd edition this year. Next to the beaches of Sardinero, visitors will be able to appreciate the best independent art from the most sophisticated galleries across all corners of Spain, alongside European and Latin American galleries, while some of the most influential contemporary artists are celebrated and honoured with awards.