Lascaux is one of the famous places in France where you can find exquisite art collections from prehistoric times. Cave paintings, carvings, and drawings are essentially attractions that are feast to the eyes of the history lover. Lascaux is located at Route de la Grotte de Lascaux, Montignac, France. The cave paintings, which mainly depict animals, are some 17,000 years old and seem to have a ritual purpose. For preservation reasons, the public may only visit a well-executed replica called Lascaux II. In total there are more than 1000 images in the cave system.
Lascaux's Discovery
During the early fall of 1940, four teenage boys were exploring the hills above the Vézère River near the town of Montignac in the Dordogne Valley of south central France when they stumbled on an amazing archaeological discovery. A large pine tree had fallen from the hill years before and left a hole; the intrepid group slipped into the hole and fell into what is now called the Hall of the Bulls, a 20 by 5 meter (66 x 16 foot) tall fresco of cattle and deer and aurochs and horses, painted in masterful strokes and gorgeous colors some 15,000-17,000 years ago.
Layout of Cave Art
Most of the cave paintings at Lascaux are situated quite a distance away from the entrance; many of the secondary chambers are relatively remote. Given the lack of natural light, these artworks must have been created with the aid of candles, typically fuelled by animal fat.
The Cave Art at Lascaux
What makes the prehistoric painting at Lascaux so different is the huge scale of some of the animal pictures, and their exceptionally realistic portrayal. One of the bulls (aurochs) in the Cave of the Bulls is 17 feet (5.2 m) wide - the biggest animal image ever found in a Stone Age cave. In total, there are some 2,000 figurative pictures, including 900 animal forms, of which some 600 have been identified. In addition, there are many abstract images and symbols.
Abstract Art
The Lascaux caves also contain two basic categories of abstract art: simple shapes composed of dots or linework, and more elaborate drawings of quadrangles, triangles, circles and pentagons. The first category - according to one archeologist - may in fact be maps of the night sky, as the patterns seem to match those of various constellations. The second category has affinities with the cave art found at the Gabillou cave, also in the Dordogne.
How to reach Lascaux
If you want to travel through airways and reach Lascaux caves than take a flight to the Periguex-Bassillac airport. This is the nearest located airport. The distance of the cave from the airport is around 45 km. You can cover this distance either by renting a car or hiring a cab or can even try out the bus services. The railway station which is located very close to the caves is Condat-Le-Lardin station. It is located at a distance of 10 km from the cave.
OPENING HOURS: - Closed January. Feb, Mar, Oct-Dec: Tue–Sun 10am–12:30pm and 2–5:30pm, Apr–Jun, Sep: daily 9am–6pm, Jul-Aug: daily 9am–7pm.
ADMISSION FEE: - Visitors are limited to 2,000 per day so buy ahead of time in high season. In summer, tickets are only available from the Montignac Tourist
Office.8.50€ adults, 5.50€ children 6-12, free for children under 6.
When to visit Lascaux
The best time of the year to visit the Lascaux Caves is in between July and August. The atmosphere is quite temperate during this time.
Mar 7, 2011
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