Lascaux Cave: how to see Stone Age paintings

A cave system decorated in the Upper Palaeolithic, with over 600 paintings and nearly 6,000 figures: horses, deer, aurochs, bison and ibex, plus signs and dots whose meaning is still debated.

The Hall of Bulls is best known: huge aurochs, one over five metres long. Stone Age artists used the rock’s irregularities to create volume and movement.

Together with other Vézère caves, Lascaux has been UNESCO World Heritage-listed since 1979.

On 12 September 1940, 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat was walking near Montignac when his dog Robot entered a hole beneath an uprooted tree. Marcel returned with three friends, and the teenagers descended into a cave unseen for millennia.

Opened to the public in 1948 after the war, it received around 1,200 visitors daily. Breath, heat and humidity began damaging the paintings: mould and deposits appeared. It closed in 1963. Only scientists and conservators now enter, briefly.

Replicas were built so people could still experience Lascaux.

• First the replica: small guided groups explore recreated chambers with the same dim light, coolness, wall relief and life-size images. Photography is prohibited inside.

• Then the centre: individual panels in good lighting, multimedia galleries and a film about Stone Age life.
• Time: around 1–1.5 hours in the replica, 2–3 hours including galleries.
• Tickets: book a timed slot online, especially in season; arrive twenty minutes early.
• Hours: vary seasonally; a short January closure applies. Check the official site before travelling.

The Vézère valley has caves with genuine paintings. Best known is Font-de-Gaume, near Les Eyzies, one of France’s last caves open to visitors with original polychrome art, including bison. Access is very restricted, groups small and booking needed well ahead.

The National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies is a good complement.

Over 900 animal images have been identified:

• horses, most numerous, 364;

• deer, around 90;
• aurochs and bison, each 4–5% of images, but largest and most famous;
• less often ibex, cats, a bear and a rhinoceros.

Humans appear only once, in the Shaft: a schematic figure beside a bison and a bird on a pole. Whether it shows hunting, ritual or myth remains debated.

The chambers

• Hall of Bulls: first and most famous, huge aurochs, horses and deer.
• Axial Gallery: narrow corridor painted on walls and ceiling, called the “Sistine Chapel of prehistoric art”.
• Passage, Nave and Apse: numerous engravings scratched into soft rock.
• Shaft: man-and-bison scene.
• Chamber of Felines: large cats.

• Mineral paints: red, yellow and brown ochre, iron compounds, and manganese-based black. Little charcoal was used.

• Techniques: patches and strokes, sometimes paint blown through a tube for soft outlines; lines scratched into soft rock.
• Volume: bulges and cracks make animals seem to emerge from the wall.
• Light: a stone lamp was found near the Shaft. Artists worked in firelit semi-darkness.

Days after discovery, leading specialist Abbé Henri Breuil examined the cave. Scientists still use his 1940 sketches, as many paintings have faded since.

No definite answer: the artists left no explanations. Several theories may each be partly right:

• hunting magic, drawing animals to gain “power” over them;

• ritual and shamanism, initiation spaces and visions, often linked to the Shaft scene;
• storytelling and memory, passing on knowledge of animals, seasons and migrations;
• sky and calendar, dots and signs interpreted as seasonal markers or stars.

Horses dominate the walls rather than the animals most often hunted, judging by bones. Subjects were therefore not random.

Lascaux is often compared with Spain’s Altamira, Europe’s other great cave.

Altamira’s story resembles a detective novel. Amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola recognised the paintings after his eight-year-old daughter Maria led him inside. Scholars refused to believe their prehistoric origin for twenty years, accepting it only in 1902.

Lascaux IV is among the region’s best family museums: a cool, dark “cave”, huge animals and multimedia galleries to examine images and understand techniques. Younger children may find the replica visit long, so plan breaks. Children need timed tickets even when entry is free.

The valley is Europe’s richest Stone Age art area, with 37 decorated caves and shelters around Les Eyzies alone. Consider:

• Font-de-Gaume: original polychrome bison, very limited access.

• Les Combarelles: hundreds of engraved animals in a narrow corridor.
• Cap Blanc: rock-shelter frieze of carved horses.
• Rouffignac: the “cave of a hundred mammoths”, visited by small electric train.
• La Roque Saint-Christophe: tiers of caves inhabited from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages.
• Cro-Magnon shelter, Les Eyzies: human remains found in 1868 gave Cro-Magnons their name.

Les Eyzies is the “world capital of prehistory”, also home to the national museum with finds from the valley.

• Spring and autumn: fewer people, easy to combine with castles and markets.

• July–August: peak season, book ahead and arrive at opening.
• Winter: open apart from a few January days, ideal on a rainy day in truffle season.

• Lascaux IV: Montignac, Vézère valley, Dordogne, around 25 km from Sarlat.

• Air: Bordeaux or Bergerac, then car.
• Train: Paris–Bordeaux TGV or a train to Brive, then car.
• Car: easiest, as valley public transport is infrequent.

Allow half a day for Lascaux IV. Nearby options for the rest:

• Sarlat-la-Canéda, medieval golden-stone town;

• Domme, 13th-century cliff-top bastide with Dordogne views;
• La Roque-Gageac and Beynac, riverside villages and castles.

See “What to see in Dordogne”.

Visit in the morning: opening is quieter and leaves half a day.

• Montignac: lunch in the riverside town, promenade and cafés.

• Les Eyzies: 25 km downstream, museum, Cro-Magnon and evening in the valley.
• Sarlat: around 25 km, old-town walk and dinner.
• Domme: a panorama of the Dordogne valley at sunset.

• Jumper or light jacket: the replica is cool.

• Comfortable shoes: plenty of walking and stairs.
• Printed or electronic timed ticket.
• Water and children’s snacks: 2–3 hours including waiting.

1. Not booking. Summer and holiday slots sell out days ahead.
2. Confusing II and IV. The main exhibition is now Lascaux IV at Montignac’s International Centre.
3. Expecting the real cave. Closed since 1963 to preserve its art.
4. Arriving late. Groups leave on time; arrive twenty minutes early.
5. No jumper. The replica is cool, like a real cave.
6. Last-minute Font-de-Gaume plans. Very few tickets; book long ahead.

Day four’s morning visits Lascaux IV. Afternoon brings cliff-top Domme, valley panoramas and lunch with Cabécou goat’s cheese and Périgord walnuts. → Dordogne food tour · Dordogne region