Archeology and Tourism have always had a thorny relationship. On the one hand, everybody wants important historical sites to be preserved as best as humanly possible, for the benefit of future generations (unless you’re fundamentalist a-hole, but let’s not go there), but on the other hand, archeologists recognize that allowing tourists to visit those sites ensures the monetary resources they desperately need to continue their investigations.
A compromise is thus needed, and most of the time the solutions are quite inelegant: On Chichen Itzá for example, visitors are no longer allowed to climb on top of the famous pyramid of Kukulcan. Gone are also the days when one could walk among the standing rocks of Stonehenge during public opening hours. If preserving megalithic structures presents a challenge however, it doesn’t even compare to how difficult it is to preserve the oldest representations of artistic creativity –cave paintings.
Many people desire to admire the delicate artwork left by our ancestors tenths of thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, the very breath expelled by visitors severely deteriorates the pigments and charcoal strokes left by the prehistoric artists, which is why the Spanish authorities decided to close access to the famous Altamira caves in 1977. Facing a similar problem with the Chauvet cave, which contains the earliest forms of paleolithic painting in the world, the French authorities decided to emulate their Spaniard colleagues, and spent 55 million euros to build an exact replica of Grotte Chauvet, which will be opened to the public later this month:
The designers of the replica cave worked in close collaboration with the scientific team, the challenge was to reproduce the cave and its 8,500 square metres while at the same time maintaining the perception of the originals.
3-D modeling was used and some 6,000 images were overlapped in developing sketches. The paintings have been reproduced on a shotcrete structure with resin coating using natural oxide pigments and Scots pine charcoal.
All the paintings have been done by experienced artists using natural pigments and bonding material in order to remain as faithful as possible to the originals.
“The walls, the geology has been replicated exactly as it is and the paintings are also very precise. They can stir emotions. So I think the first reaction of the public will be amazement while I think they will also be surprised,” explained Professor Jean Clottes, Cave Art Specialist.
So if you’re planning to visit France this Summer, you might want to include this attraction in your schedule. You can also visit the Altamira cave right now without leaving your chair, by clicking here.
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