Conservation of cave art: Altamira and Lascaux

The Altamira caves in northern Spain and the Lascaux caves in south-west France contain some of the most extraordinary art ever created. After visiting the Lascaux caves, the great artist Pablo Picasso declared: “We have invented nothing.” For many thousands of years, cave art was perfectly preserved underground. But when thousands of visitors visited the caves every month, it created a huge problem of conservation.

The Lascaux cave was opened in 1948, but the humidity caused by the breathing of the visitors damaged the paintings. The cave was closed to the public in 1963. A replica Lascaux II was opened in 1983, so that visitors could admire the art without destroying the original. In Altamira, there were similar problems. The Altamira cave was closed to the public in 1977, but a replica was opened in 2001. In 2014, small groups were allowed to enter the caves again.

Visitors can now look at a reproduction of almost 200 square metres of the polychrome roof of the cave. In fact, they can see some paintings which are too high to be visible in the original cave.