Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Cave Paintings Are Coming!

Last night my husband emailed me an article that I just had to share. In March Chicago's Field Museum will bring replicas of the Lascaux cave paintings. They will even reproduce the cave! It will be just like going to the site in France.

Tom and I visited the Dorgonge region of southwestern France in 2009. We wanted to see the Paleolithic cave paintings, so we went to Lascaux II, which is a complete replica of the original Lascaux cave that was closed in 1963 to preserve the artwork. Lascaux II is situated very close to the original cave and I have to say, it was hard to remember I wasn’t in the real deal. Tom and I took the tour in French and even though I couldn’t understand a word, it was really fascinating to look at the paintings and imagine what life was like 20,000 years ago.

During that trip, we also went to Grottes de Cougnac. It is a huge cave with paintings from 14,000 to 25,000 years ago. The paintings are not as elaborate or as plentiful as Lascaux II, but they are the real thing. Pretty amazing!

Just below this scenic setting is the Cougnac Cave.
We were not allowed to take pictures of the cave paintings in Cougnac or Lascuax II.