Cuevas Romanas

Useful Information

Location:	La Colina Urbanization, Calle Las Cuevas, s / n, 14014 Córdoba From Motorway CO-31 around Córdoba turn off on N-432 to the north, towards Cerro Muriano, first exit La Colina, at roundabout first rigght on CO-3101. At the first bend to the left turn right, Cueva Romanas signposted. (37.922277, -4.753035)
Open:	All year Tue-Sun 11-18. [2021]
Fee:	free. [2021]
Classification:	Rock Mine Cave Restaurant Room and Pillar Mining
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Restaurante Cuevas Romanas, s/n, Urbanización La Colina, Calle Las Cuevas, 14014 Córdoba, Tel: +34-607-23-13-54. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1929	Roman quarry rediscovered.

Description

The Restaurante Cuevas Romanas is an underground restaurant which was built into huge underground passages at the Urbanización La Colina, just north of Córdoba. It has a nice park around the entrance, but it is used only in certain seasons, because such open air spaces are used if the temperature outside is convenient. Here it is often too hot, and the temperature inside the cave is convenient all the time. And it never rains. It's quite obvious, why the restaurant uses the abandoned quarries.

The Cuevas Romanas (Roman Caves) are actually not caves, but quarries. The Romans quarried the white limestone here, they needed for their buildings in nearby Córdoba. The most suitable layer was almost 2.5 m thick and horizontal, and they followed the rock underground. It was obviously easier to quarry the rock underground than to remove all the layers above to reach the good rock. Today, with heavy diesel powered machines that's completely different, but two millennia ago they had to remove the rock by hand. They used the simple and ancient room and pillar technique, they just left enough pillars to support the ceiling.

The result are huge, cavernous chambers with numerous pillars splitting the room into wide passages. The ceiling is very level, it seems to be a boundary between to layers of rocks. The caves are close to the surface, and outside the climate is semi arid. So there is actually no dripping water in the cave, it simply has no source. As a result there are no speleothems inside, which might have formed during 2,000 years if there was water.

This is not a normal tourist site, there is no entrance fee, but obviously the owners of the restaurant are not too happy about tourists taking a lot of pictures and then vanishing. If you want to visit the cave just order a cup of coffee at the restaurant. Or have lunch or dinner, it looks really delicious. If you are a guest, there should be no problem to have a look around.