Heads up on that cave art site near Lascaux that got closed down

I was planning a trip to the Rouffignac cave in France last month and found out they shut it to visitors for good. Turns out too much human breath was causing mold to grow on the 13,000-year-old drawings. Three years ago they had a similar problem at Lascaux and had to spend millions on restoration. Has anyone here seen the replica caves and do they actually compare?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_richard8d agoTop Commenter

Too much of anything good ends up wrecking it, same as overwatering a houseplant.

webb.xena8d ago

That "too much of anything" line really hits different when you think about what we're literally breathing onto these caves. I've actually been to Lascaux IV and it's honestly kind of surreal how good the replica is, like they matched the texture of the rock surface so well you could almost fool yourself. But here's the thing nobody brings up - the replicas can only capture what's still visible, not the stuff that's already been damaged or faded from decades of tourism. Some of those drawings have minerals and bacteria interacting in ways we barely understand, and the replica just can't replicate that organic process. It's like having a perfect photograph of your grandma versus actually sitting with her and watching her breathe.