St. Michael's Cave | |
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Old St. Michael's Cave | |
Map showing location of St. Michael's Cave in Gibraltar. | |
Location | Queen's Road, Upper Rock Nature Reserve, Gibraltar |
Coordinates | 36°07′34″N 5°20′44″W / 36.126199°N 5.345504°W |
Depth | 62 metres (203 ft) |
Elevation | 300 metres (980 ft) |
Geology | Limestone |
Entrances | 3 |
Visitors | c. 1,000,000 |
St. Michael's Cave or Old St. Michael's Cave is the name given to a network of limestone caves located within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, at a height of over 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. According to Alonso Hernández del Portillo, the first historian of Gibraltar, its name is derived from a similar grotto in Monte Gargano near the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo in Apulia, Italy, where the archangel Michael is said to have appeared.[1]
It is the most visited of the more than 150 caves found inside the Rock of Gibraltar,[2] receiving almost 1,000,000 visitors a year.[3]