St. Michael's Cave

St. Michael's Cave
Old St. Michael's Cave
Uplit stalactites in St. Michael's Cave.
Map showing the location of St. Michael's Cave
Map showing the location of St. Michael's Cave
Map showing location of St. Michael's Cave in Gibraltar.
LocationQueen's Road, Upper Rock Nature Reserve, Gibraltar
Coordinates36°07′34″N 5°20′44″W / 36.126199°N 5.345504°W / 36.126199; -5.345504
Depth62 metres (203 ft)
Elevation300 metres (980 ft)
GeologyLimestone
Entrances3
Visitorsc. 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]

  1. ^ Gaspar Cuesta Estévez (2001). "Toponimia bilingüe de Gibraltar: Acercamiento a un problema histórico y sociolingüístico". Almoraima (in Spanish) (25): 443. ISSN 1133-5319.
  2. ^ Gibraltar Info - St. Michael's Cave Archived 2008-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Duquesa - St. Michael's Cave Archived 2011-07-11 at the Wayback Machine