Page 423 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

Inspiring Cave Paintings
The Dordogne boasts an extraordinary con­
centration of prehistoric art, some 20,000
years old. Visit a reconstruction of the Lascaux
IV cave (p434), where inter active dis plays
recreate the original decorated cave's
atmosphere and paintings. At Grotte de Pech­
Merle, near Cahors (p436), the “spotted horses"
and handprints make the artists seem spine­
tinglingly close. Learn the context at Les
Eyzies's Musée National de Préhistoiret.

Exploring ART FOR ART’S
wall paintings SAKE?
in the lit-up No one knows the
Lascaux IV exact significance of
cave replica the cave paintings.
Once believed they
were created as part of
a magic ritual designed
to invoke a successful
hunt, the common
view now is that they
were painted in a
trance as part of a sha­
manic practice. Or they
may simply have been
attempts to capture
fleeting beauty.

A room of
PREHISTORIC ART of Lascaux IV cave
reconstructions

Epic Etchings and
Sketchings
Etchings, carvings, and
sketchings, created by the
stroke of a few lines, are seen
in stun ning detail at Grotte de
Pech­Merle (p437). Another
cham ber also contains etch­
ings of female silhou ettes and
mammoths, and footprints
chiselled into the rock.
Children in particular enjoy a
visit to Grotte de Rouffignac at
Les Eyzies (p435), and the
journey into the cave on an
underground electric train,
stopping at various points to
marvel at the 13,000­year­old
engrav ings, many depicting
mam moths. The highlight is
the final chamber, the ceiling Line drawing of a woolly
of which is decorated mammoth drawing at the
with animals. Grotte de in Rouffignac
423

422-423_EW_France.indd 423 30/01/2019 12:41