prehistoria men mural postcard

Mural de la Prehistoria (Prehistory Mural), Viñales Valley, Pinar del Río, Cuba. The Prehistory Mural in the western province of Pinar del Rio is one of the largest open-air fresco paintings in the world. The majestic 120-metre-high mural, drawn on rocks from the Jurassic period, is enshrouded in the mountains of the Viñales National Park, declared a world heritage site in 1988. Created in 1959 by Cuban painter and scientist Leovigildo Gonzalez (a student of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera), the Prehistory Mural has withstood the test of time and weather, thanks to a drainage system surrounding the rocks that prevents the accumulation of water. The fresco represents the bio-geologic past of this region that is one of the oldest in the Caribbean. Along with paintings of the aborigines who inhabited this area of the Cuban archipelago, are great mammals such as the extinct megalocnus rodens (giant bear) and ammonite molluscs, which are more than 70 million years old.