WOW 
Tuesday, 10. July 2007
The Cave of Lascaux
The Cave of Lascaux is famous for its prehistoric paintings. These images show animals, hunts, and wars. They were found by four boys on Thursday 12-SEP-1940.There is a very interesting fact about the drawings: the hunts were drawn on the wall like a comic strip. The story of the hunt goes from the left to the right, until the prey is captured. These pictures were obviously used to tell stories.
The paintings are very fragile, as their long endurance requires the natural climate of the cave. The visitors raise the temperature, change humidity, bring dust and semen of plants into the cave and, last but not least, the light of the lamps bleaches the paintings and makes the growth of plants possible. Because of this the cave was closed in 1963 to protect the paintings.
A virtual visit to the caves of Lascaux based upon scientific exploration. A journey through this Prehistoric sanctuary unites an aesthetic experience and an educational introduction in Prehistoric art.
The Cave of Lascaux - official site by the Ministry of Culture and Communication. With a very nice virtual cave tour. (English Version)
Die Höhlen von Lascaux (Deutsche Version)
To allow the visitors to see the cave paintings anyway, an exact facsimile called Lascaux II (faux Lascaux), was built just 200m from the original cave. In Lascaux II two galleries have been reproduced: the Bulls Room and the central corridor. This two parts of the Lascaux cave show the majority of the paintings.
Lascaux II
Use of pigments and techniques used in the Lascaux caves.
Very interesting.