page_title: St. Michael's Cave
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: St. Michael's Cave / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Michael's Cave, Gibraltar = Select Views of the Rock and Fortress of Gibraltar original by carter lithograph by dibdin
context_page_description: 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 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.
  It is the most visited of the more than 150 caves found inside the Rock of Gibraltar, receiving almost 1,000,000 visitors a year.
context_section_description: During the Victorian era the cave was used as a venue for picnics, parties, concerts, weddings and even duels. The caves would be decorated for many of these events and even illuminated for distinguished visitors by soldiers who would perch on stalagmites with torches.
  The first official archaeological excavation of the cave was carried out by the Governor of the military prison, Captain Frederick Brome, commencing in April 1863 and continuing until December 1867. He discovered numerous prehistoric artifacts such as stone axes and arrow heads, shell jewelry, and bone needles as well as a large collection of pottery. Despite his archeological efforts, Brome's unauthorised use of prisoners' labour eventually cost him his job.
  Officers looking for adventure during quiet periods of their service, would pass their time exploring the many passages within the cave system. Sometime before 1840, a Colonel Mitchell and a second officer got lost in the caves and were never seen again. Their disappearance led to extensive explorations of the cave system in 1840, 1857 and 1865, but no evidence of the officers' whereabouts was found. Further exploration was carried out between 1936 and 1938, when a scientific expedition was mounted and every known part of the cave system was explored, but again no human remains were found.
caption: 19th-century painting of St. Michael's Cave by Thomas Colman Dibdin.
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