Grotte du Mas-d'Azil

times

Complete diary
Friday 24 May 2013
Opening times Cave : 13H30 / 18H45 Opening times Museum : 14H00 / 18H00

Information

icon_coordonnees Contact details Phone 05.61.05.10.10
Phone 05.61.69.97.71
Send an e-mail
icon_acces Access map Mas-d'Azil
icon_animaux Pets Pets not allowed here
icon_services Services Boutique
icon_tarifs Rates
Cave
€7.80
€6.30
€4.90
€3.90
Museum
€4.00
€3.00
€2.00

The visit

July, 2012 : rediscover the cave !

A guided tour with commentary takes you through a network of galleries and rooms on different levels. Several scientific disciplines are covered: geology (the cave’s formation); palaeontology (galleries containing bones) and prehistory through the attested presence of several cultures: Aurignacian, Magdalenian and Azilian; not to mention history (the Wars of Religion).

 

The palaeontological aspect is also tackled, with the ossuaries that can still be seen on the upper floors – they plunge the visitor into the specific ice-age environment of the fauna, as impressive as they are varied (mammoths, woolly rhinoceros and cave bears).

 
The "mask" - E. Demoulin

An important prehistoric settlement, the cave also includes several decorated galleries that contain some extremely interesting figures, but they cannot be visited not only because they are very difficult to access, but also to ensure their conservation.

Between 1901 and 1912, the Abbé Breuil and Count Bégouën discovered engravings and red and black paintings in a small room followed by a narrow gallery called the “galerie Breuil” (bison, horses, deer, fish, what might be some kind of cat and geometrical signs).
 
In another particularly low gallery there is an engraving of bison, in the reindeer gallery many superposed engravings of animals and in the Oven Room, still more engraved figures: the lovely hindquarters of a horse, an ibex head with its horn and the famous mask representing a human face.
 
Your ticket also gives you access to the Prehistory Museum where you can see reproductions of these drawings and engravings.

diary



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