 |
| Rhone Alps Tourism Office |
One of the most naturally beautiful, scenic and untouched regions of France is
Ardeche in south central part of France. For those in quest of off the beaten path explorations Ardeche represents a great destination and more so today as the
Cave du Pont de l'Arc has been inaugurated this weekend. Back in 1994, three speleologists - Jean Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel and Christian Hillaire-discovered by chance the opening of a cave.. When entering it , they discovered the most spectacular and best preserved prehistoric paintings dating to 36,000 years , older than Lascaux in Dordogne which date to about 16,000 years. The amazing freshness of the paintings is due to the fact that the cave had been shut by a landslide some 27,000 years ago. To preserve the Chauvet cave (as it has been named after one of the discoverer), a faithful replica has been constructed 5 km from the original to welcome visitors. It took 30 months for a team of artists and scientists to reconstruct as exactly as possible a copy of Chauvet cave --down to its shape, contours smell, humidity, obscurity, temperature, stalagmites and of course the wall paintings. Visitors can discover over 400 representations of some 14 different animal species such as bisons, mammoths, lions, hyenas, rhinos and bears. Red ochre prehistoric hand prints can be spotted too. The Cave du Pont de l'Arc will be opened every day of the year and advanced reservation is highly recommended.
Visit
http://en.cavernedupontdarc.fr for more information.
For a custom design trip to France, visit
www.enchanted-france.com
#Ardeche # Grotte de Chauvet # Grotte du Pont de l'Arc
No comments:
Post a Comment