Lascaux IV, a Breathtaking Replica – Road Trip in France #21
The Lascaux cave is one of the highlights of this road trip. It is a visit so much awaited that I counted the days until the visit of this one. If the visit of Chauvet 2 impressed us a lot, we expect no less from Lasvaux IV, the most recent replica of the Lascaux cave.
Note: this blog article is part of the “Road Trip in France” made in August 2020. To read the previous parts, click here : #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19 and #20
Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Diary
Breakfast very early in the morning in our Airbnb and then it’s off for the visit of Lascaux IV, at 8am please.
The replica we are going to visit is called Lascaux IV because there are several Lascaux :
- Lascaux I : this is the original cave discovered on September 12, 1940. It has not been visited since April 17, 1963 following the damage caused by a flow of tourists
- Lascaux II (opened in 1983): this is the partial replica, created to welcome tourists, 200 meters from the original cave. It is the first facsimile of a cave in the world, it reproduces 90% of the paintings of Lascaux
- Lascaux III: this is the mobile replica, designed to travel all over the world for exhibitions. This is the version that JB visited a few years ago at the Versailles exhibition center in Paris and that he liked very much
- Lascaux IV (opened in 2016): this is a complete replica of the original cave, made with modern technology.
The difference in rates between Lascaux II and Lascaux IV isn’t huge, we recommend that you visit Lascaux IV.
The history of Lascaux
In September 1940, Marcel Ravidat, discovered a cave in the hill of Lascaux (belonging to the La Rochefoucauld family) thanks to his dog. 4 days later, he came back with his 3 friends and they entered the cave. There is a rumor in the area about the existence of a treasure. The teenagers hope to discover it. Instead, they discover cave paintings. They vow to keep the secret but it will only last a few days, as one of the youths decides to inform his teacher.
In 1948, the cave was opened to the public. Our 4 friends aren’t rewarded in any way, the La Rochefoucauld family manages the visits of the cave. Until April 1963, when it is closed because of the important degradations caused by the carbon dioxide released by 1000 visitors per day. The family sold the original cave to the state to finance part of the Lascaux II project. The project was taken over by the General Council of the Dordogne. Lascaux II is also not resistant to degradation and needs to be renovated.
Lascaux IV
Lascaux IV is a separate site, not very far from Lascaux II, but one cannot walk from Lascaux IV to Lascaux II. There is no risk of going to the wrong place.
At the moment, it is recommended to buy tickets online, but the ticket office is always open and by coming early, some were able to get tickets within half an hour. We opted for the earliest visit (at 8am) because the groups follow one another (every 15 minutes) and the hubbub in such a small cave might make the visit unpleasant. We prefer to be in the first group.
All visits are guided and last 1h30. We first take the elevator to see the surroundings and imagine what the Dordogne would have looked like at the time of the cave paintings. Then we enter the cave. The temperature is maintained at 13°C all year round, with a low luminosity to recreate the conditions of a real cave, and also to preserve the paintings, which are made with natural pigments. Photos and videos are totally forbidden inside the cave
The Chauvet Cave is older than the Lascaux cave, so the precision of the paintings is different too. We can’t really compare the two for the paintings. You just have to visit both caves 😀
On the other hand, in terms of the visit experience, JB prefers Lascaux IV directly on the ground (and not on footbridges as in Chauvet 2
)Personally, I prefer Chauvet 2 because the visit is continuous. Here at Lascaux IV, there is a moment when you leave the cave to access the second part of the cave. The cave is T-shaped (a little twisted but you know what I mean), we follow the green path on the drawing, and the n°7 corresponds to the concrete patio to access the | du T. It was organized this way so that we don’t have to turn around and enter the tourists of other groups.
After the visit of the cave, which lasted about 20 minutes, more than enough time given the narrowness of the cave, we reach a huge room where we have much more time to rediscover the walls one by one. Here, we are allowed to take pictures.
The mastery of gradient colors, the movements of animals … is impressive. In this cave, the “nasty” animals are often hidden, as in real life finally, without a guide, it would have been impossible for us to see them. And even when she shows them to us, we release a skeptical “mouaaaais” because it is too well hidden for us. There are more than 200 identifiable animals.
Whether in this huge workshop or in the replica cave, everything was done to the millimeter compared to the original. The artists try to use the same techniques to reproduce the paintings. The pigments are natural too. Here are the shades of colors used :
In Lascaux, there are traces of bear claws, as in Chauvet. In any case, men did not live in the caves, but rather in the shelters. The caves are too dark and they would have suffocated by making fire inside. To light the fire, the artists used instead animal fat, which does not leave smoke or marks on the walls.
In the second part of the cave, we were shown a vault full of engravings, but it was impossible to see it. But in this separate room, they put a special light so that we could observe them better. In reality, there were 5000 of them in the original cave, but in this workshop they reproduced a few hundred. Many of the engravings are incomprehensible, in addition they are superimposed, a real puzzle!
Just below this vault is a 6 meters (6 ? I’m not sure) deep well. It’s so narrow with little oxygen that normally, with simplistic means, it’s already hard to go down there, and to go up again, then to light with animal fat and to draw, it’s mission impossible. And yet, we still find the famous painting of a man, between a buffalo and a rhinoceros. I see a duck next to it too (the others see a bird)
Man is little represented in caves, so every time he is there, the cave becomes more important. Lascaux and the Villars Cave (which we will also visit) have representations of a man with a buffalo. Every encounter with a bison looks fatal. There are however some who have written a whole book to refute this thesis. They claim that, on the contrary, man looks triumphant here. The man in the Villars cave looks much less so.
This human representation is the only one in this sanctuary. The trunk and limbs are filiform. The fingers, four in each hand, are spread out in a fan. The sex is conspicuously marked. The body is inclined at about 45°, a position undoubtedly caused by the buffalo’s about-face. Below this figure, one can notice the presence of a bird, perched on a stick. However, its silhouette isn’t precise enough to determine its species. It shares identical characteristics, and even some links, with man. These are themes not repeated in this sanctuary, moreover, they have a head with similar features. Within certain primitive or ancient societies, the bird often assumes a psychopompe role, the one that accompanies souls. Source : archeologie.culture.fr/lascaux
The visit ends with an interactive exhibition that is quite playful, but not necessarily compatible with Covid measurements because there are too many things to touch 😀 There is also a focus on the craftsmen who participated in the project, how they dig the walls with a cutter, how they reproduce the paintings.
We strongly recommend a visit to Lascaux IV. Even if you have visited Chauvet 2, this visit remains a must, the two caves aren’t comparable. If you are still not convinced, take a look at this breathtaking virtual tour with explanation for each drawing, you will change your mind 😉
Our next article, it’s this way
Part 2: Practical Tips
Useful links
- 4 weeks Road Trip in France by car: program & detailed plans here
- These points of interest are part of the +800 tourist places in France that we recommend. To access free Google Maps of the 800 places in question, click here
- More info about our car rental at Leclerc (5€/day + 8cts per km) here
Budget
- Our Airbnb : 66€ per night, breakfast included. To receive 35€ for your first reservation on Airbnb, use our sponsorship link
- Adult ticket for Lascaux IV site: 20€
- Free parking
