The Unicorn in the Great Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux Caves

A few days ago I picked up a gorgeous book from the library – Chauvet Cave: The Art of Earliest Times by Jean Clottes, and Paul G. Bahn (translator). I’ve visited the Chauvet Cave website before, so now I look forward to perusing the book, but haven’t yet had time to more than glance at the stunning pictures.

In a bit of synchronicity, I spotted an article and photo today in our local newspaper about another group of caves in the same region: Modern copy brings ancient art into view, originally from the Daily Telegraph, about the Lascaux Caves project.

A replica of the Lascaux caves, home to prehistoric man but out of bounds to his modern descendants, is to go on a world tour to take the art treasures to a wider public. A small team based near the caves in Motignac, south-west France, is creating the replica for an exhibition expected to visit several international cities, including London. Renaud Sanson, the team’s leader and one of the few people allowed inside the caves, said the use of laser techniques and photographic projection meant that the touring replica would be “better than the real thing”. The 17,000-year-old images are considered among the finest surviving examples of palaeolithic art and have been described as the Sistine Chapel of the prehistoric age.

An earlier post about the Lascaux project is at ionarts, translated from French papers and worth reading.

More interesting related links:
Lascaux II and area
Tour info
Pech Merle

I wonder how far we’d still have to travel to see these modern re-creations?