Lascaux grotto coming to Paris.

La grotte de Lascaux s’invite à Paris

par Arnaud Racapé mardi 19 mai 2015 21:12, mis à jour le mercredi 20 mai 2015 à 05h00

Le fac-similé de la scène du puits © MaxPPP/Annie Viannet

Après Bordeaux, Chicago, Houston, Montréal et Bruxelles, l’exposition itinérante Lascaux 3 ouvre ses portes ce mercredi au parc des expositions de la Porte de Versailles. Une plongée dans l’univers de la plus célèbre grotte ornée de la préhistoire, découverte en 1940 à Montignac, en Dordogne, par quatre adolescents.

After Bordeaux, Chicago, Houston, Montréal and Bruxelles, the Lescaux 3 travelling show opens it’s doors on Wednesday in the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre. A dive into the world of the most celebrated prehistoric ornate grotto, discovered in 1940 at Montignac, in the Dordogne region in SW France, by four teenagers.

Le visage de ces quatre adolescents, c’est précisément ce qui apparaît d’emblée dans la première salle de l’exposition. Ils étaient âgés de 13 à 18 ans lorsqu’ils sont entrés dans la grotte, il y a 75 ans. Suivent les maquettes, les nombreux outils interactifs, et la reconstitution en trois dimensions, pour une véritable immersion dans la grotte.

The faces of the four adolescents are the evident emblems in the first room of the exhibition. They were between 13 and 18 years old when they encountered the grotto 75 years ago. Following the models, the interactive exhibits and the three dimensional re-constructions, for a veritable immersion into the grotto.

La scène du Puits, seule représentation humaine de la grotte.

One  scene in the cave is the only human representation.

Mais ce qui fascine davantage encore, ce sont les fac-similés de ces peintures datant de 18 000 ans. Ils sont au nombre de cinq, réunis dans une même salle de l’exposition. Parmi eux figure Le Puits, seule représentation humaine de la grotte de Lascaux. Pour Yves Coppens, le président du conseil scientifique de Lascaux, cette peinture est tout simplement “exceptionnelle”, “c’est une scène : il  y a un bison blessé, on voit que l’homme lui-même est blessé (…) et puis il y a des signes abstraits qui ont l’air d’aller avec la représentation. Pour moi c’est une écriture”. Yves Coppens : “pour moi, c’est une écriture”

Fascinating as they are, they are reproduction facsimilés of the paintings dating back 18,000 years. There are five of them altogether in the same exhibition. Among them is the the figure depicting the only human of the Lascaux grotto. For Yves Coppens, the president of the Lescaux scientific council, this painting is simply “exceptional, it is a scene of an injured bison, one sees that the man himself is injured (…) and then there are abstract scenes which go with the representation, for me it is a like a scripture” 

Outre les peintures, la topographie de la grotte de Lascaux est également reproduite. La lumière et la température tentent par ailleurs de donner une idée de l’atmosphère du lieu. En 2016, Lascaux 4 devrait ouvrir ses portes à Montignac : il s’agira d’un fac-similé intégral.

Other than the paintings, the topographie of the Lescaux grotto is equally reproduced. The light and temperature attempt to give an idea of the athmosphere of the place. In 2016, Lescaux 4 (exhibition) will open it’s doors in Montignac: it will develop the facsimilés integrally.

 

Opinion: In the Batheram Grotto, about 40 kms from Lourdes there are regular and organised tours underground. The caves are at least one km below the Pyrenees and give excellent representation of underground caves. It is lit with electric light thoughout and even has a boat trip underground. At one point the guide turns off the lights and the darkness is totally profound.

 

 

 

 

 

About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
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