Once upon a time in Montignac…
Lascaux in four acts
Lascaux, the original
The Lascaux caves in 1940. The Lascaux caves were open to the public for many years until they were closed for their preservation in 1963. The continual flow of visitors - some 1,500 per day - and the carbonic gas of their breath had begun to have a damaging effect on the prehistoric paintings. Today, the original Lascaux caves are closed, and they are closely guarded in order to preserve the precious listed treasures within.
Lascaux II, the facsimile
This facsimile, located just 200m from the original prehistoric caves, is open to the public. Through technological achievement and scientific discipline, the appearance of the original cave has been recreated so that the most famous Palaeolithic sanctuary in the world may still be admired.
Lascaux III on the international scene
This international exhibition brings together the most cutting-edge digital technologies to form an unforgettable interactive tour, including human presence simulators, 3D virtual immersion (in the Great Hall of Bulls), and headsets showing the replica artists immersed in their work (in the Axial Gallery and elsewhere).
THE WORLD TOUR: Oct. 2012-Jan. 2013: FRANCE Bordeaux (Cap-Sciences) – Fourteen-month NORTH AMERICAN TOUR, Mar. 2013-Sep. 2014 (Chicago, Houston, Montreal) with more than 720,000 visitors. Ten-month EUROPEAN TOUR, Nov 2014 – Jan 2016 (Brussels, Geneva and Paris). Departure for ASIA: Apr 2016-Aug 2016 South Korea (Seoul) and nine-month JAPANESE TOUR: Tokyo (National Museum of Nature and Science – Ueno District): 1 Nov 2016 to 19 Feb 2017 - Tohoku (History Museum): 28 Mar to 28 May 2017 - Fukuoka (Kyushu National Museum): 4 Jul 2017 to 3 Sep 2017.
To date, a total of nearly 820,000 visitors have viewed the exhibition.
Lascaux IV, or Centre International d’Art Pariétal
Lascaux reveals itself to you in a brand-new setting, Le Centre International de l’Art Pariétal. More than 8500m2 of exhibition area, including a complete, unprecedented replica of the Lascaux prehistoric cave and six galleries tracing the history of its discovery, its place in the world's cave art, and its contemporary interpretation. This new space invites visitors to contemplate and feel the authentic emotion of the cave's discovery; to learn to observe and to question it; and to consider the environmental and cultural context in which it was executed. This experience is made possible through cultural mediation making use of new image and virtual reality technologies.