In the Dordogne,
there's a construction site that will mark its time.
Every architectural device is being implemented
in this building.
Its name? Lascaux IV.
This exceptional building will house a unique project,
a hybrid piece of concrete steel and resin 240 meters long,
which will be an exact reproduction
of the world-famous Lascaux cave,
a full-scale replica using the very latest technology.
Nearly 150 people will take part in this venture
incorporating more than a dozen trades.
Some in the workshop, others on the construction site.
You're about to follow this group of artists and craftsmen
who will have just three years
in which to achieve their goal.
The aim of the operation, to allow visitors to experience
the thrill of the discovery felt by the four teenagers
who in September, 1940 were the first
to step into the Hall of the Bulls.
It's so extraordinary that it's hard to believe.
Too fragile to withstand visitors
Lascaux was closed to the public nearly 50 years ago.
But this cave system is one of the richest of its size
in wall paintings and engravings.
Only a handful of scientists involved
with its conservation continue to enter the cave.
Lascaux may not have revealed all its secrets.
This new project should far surpass
the success of the first partial copy of the cave
because this time, they're making a complete replica
and to scale.
The challenge is massive
to revive an 18,000 year old testimony of the past.
Will they be able to meet the deadline,
and above all, pass on the magic of Lascaux?
No one can say.
It's the first time such a venture has ever been undertaken.
This is the southwest of France,
more precisely, the area around the village of Montignac,
home to the Lascaux Cave.
In front of us stretch the landscapes of Périgord
hills, pine forests, groves of home-oaks and a few villages
with neatly aligned houses dominated by chateau
and manor houses in the characteristic local stone.
At the bottom of the valley runs the Vézère River,
sometimes calm, sometimes swollen by the rains
that furrow the limestone slopes at Périgord Noir.
For thousands of years
the water hollowed and carved out the landscape.
Its tumultuous strength gave rise to the cliffs
and rock shelters in which the first men settled.
Long after the water had gone
our ancestors traveled up the dry beds
of these underground rivers,
and also left their mark, the signs of their passing.
Some of their frescoes, probably the most beautiful
would be revealed 18,000 years after being painted.
This fabulous discovery was made
as so often is the case, by chance.
This is the exact path
that the four boys took on Thursday,
September the 12th, 1940.
Jacques Marsal, Simone Coencas
Georges Agniel, and Marcel Ravidat.
The atmosphere was the same, including the weather
which was very nice that day.
Marcel Ravidat and his friends were out on Lascaux Hill
with their dogs.
In the late afternoon they decided to go down to Montignac
passing through Lascaux Woods.
While they were in the woods
Marcel's dog ran off into the bushes
and disappeared.
Marcel was intrigued and went after it.
Parted the branches and saw a hole in the ground
barely a meter deep in which the dog
was furiously digging.
He pulled the dog out and in doing so
sent a stone tumbling inside the hole
making an echo.
Four days later on Sunday
better equipped, three boys accompanied Marcel Ravidat
to the legendary tunnel.
One of them was Simone Coencas.
Here he is 76 years after the discovery.
The last surviving member of the group.
September the 12th, 1940 changed his life.
He still remembers the sequence of events.
The four of us made the hole larger.
And Ravidat went down first.
The tunnel sloped down hill
and then we came out into the cave.
We had a lantern and candles so you can imagine the effect
with the shadows and everything.
When we saw it, it was amazing.
The four boys soon realized
they'd got their hands on a treasure
and they'd have to protect it.
They had a little meeting
outside the cave and said, "Now we have to keep
"This a secret."
Henri Breuil, a pre-historian
who visited Montignac, authenticated
the Cro-Magnon frescoes.
This ancient trace of human brilliance
emerged at a time when France was occupied.
War was raging.
The Lascaux paintings were relegated
to the shadows again for another seven years.
They decided to that this exceptional site
should be open to the public
so that people could learn
about the mentality and artistic abilities
of pre-historic man.
In 1947, the entrance to the cave
was made more accessible.
It was clear that the discovery of the Lascaux Cave
would transform the village of Montignac.
On some summer days, more than 1,500 visitors
filed through the tunnels of Lascaux.
It's a high volume of visitors
that followed, which was logical
given the knowledge we had at the time
didn't take into account
the effect on the ecological balance of the site
on the micro-biological life
of the decorated walls.
We were still in the mineral world.
All of that would become clearer in the '60s
at the same time as the problems appeared.
The problems were initially the development
of microscopic algae that spread on the walls.
The green sickness.
Then a layer of calcite, lime scale
which covered the frescoes.
The white sickness.
The cave was in crisis.
When the cave was closed in 1963, '64, '65
and it was discovered that the damage was irreversible
the idea of a replica was born.
And Lascaux II opened in the early 1980s.
30 years after it opened
the first replica, Lascaux II
still receives more than 260,000 visitors each year.
Everyone descends into the Hall of the Bulls
in a whirlwind of animals and colors.
It's true that from here
you realize that the title of the pre-historic
Sistine Chapel is well deserved.
But only part of the cave was reproduced.
Lascaux II represents only a tiny part of the complex.
The chambers richest in paintings.
The Hall of the Bulls and the Axial Gallery.
Lascaux III gives the public the shaft scene
and the main frescoes of the nave.
Different techniques paved the way
for an even more ambitious project.
With the emergence of new methods
and new technologies
a new concept, Lascaux IV is now underway
for the conservation and study of the cave.
This is where this totally unique project
will take place
involving 30 people for more than three years.
You don't always realize how huge
it actually is.
It's a phenomenal task.
With all the projects so far
everything's been done for the first time.
Making this complete full scale replica
of the Lascaux Cave is a leap into the unknown.
Nothing is truly defined.
Three years is the only information available.
Teams have been formed.
Each dedicated to the creation of a wall.
A second to the cave.
Each operation has to flow perfectly into the next.
Otherwise, how will they be certain to finish on time.
To meet the deadlines, they'll have to
industrialize the process.
30 years have passed since the first replica was made
and techniques have evolved a great deal.
A stones throw from the workshop
a massive center dedicated to cave art is being built.
There are two teams, two locations
two sites, which will soon have to be synchronized.
One team is making the copy of the cave
the other, a very unusual building.
The most exciting thing for a designer
is to make something organic and natural
inside an artificial building.
Here, the general outline of the cave
is positioned at the end of the building.
The advantage of having cut the cave
into lots of small segments
is that we can put each of the painters
in different work spaces.
We'll be able to build this cave in just three years
instead of 10.
Everyone is counting on the latest generation
of topographic laser scanners.
A digital clone of the cave.
In short, Lascaux in three dimensions.
These scanners have acquisition capacities
of 500,000 to a million points per second.
Which allows us to recreate a 3D model of the cave.
As soon as this laser beam hits a wall, an object
it sends back spacial information.
Added to this, we're able to analyze
the light returning from this laser impact
which will depend on the nature of the materials
or the color of the materials.
The beam makes a 360 degree sweep of the wall.
So that no shadows remain, the scanner is moved
on its tripod to several different places.
This means the smallest corner of the cave is recorded.
In the Hall of Bulls for example
we actually had to move the scanner
to four different positions.
These scanners are linked together
by a point cloud software
which makes it possible to reconstitute the volume
by combining the view points of the different scanners.
These are three recordings from the same room.
From three different places.
The same markers are used for each.
Three points on the ground.
By superimposing the digital readings
the total volume of the cave is obtained
without any areas of shadows.
Powerful computers are required to process
the raw data.
The form is obtained by connecting the points
two for a straight line, three for a triangle.
The triangles are then assembled to create the volume.
At the same time, 50,000 extremely high definition
photos have been taken.
Each of them contains coordinates
which will then provide the relief
for the digital skeleton of the cave.
The precision is extreme.
16 pixels to the square millimeter.
Without this level of definition
we wouldn't be able to make an exact replica.
Precision is the key word of this project.
But how does this point cloud become a tangible object?
A cave on a scale of one to several hundred meters
in less than a year.
The Port of La Rochelle
it's in a city known for its nautical activities
that the next stage of the Lascaux adventure
will take place.
The engineers in this company have taken on
a very unusual assignment.
We usually make boats
that have smooth, fluid shapes.
Streamlined in fact.
Here, we had to do the opposite.
That's to say, make a totally beaten up shape
without any particular line
but still respecting the digital data.
The cave is divided into sections.
In this digital model
each section has its own color.
Pieces of a puzzle carved from polystyrene blocks
that will then be assembled thanks to tabs and notches.
This company are masters at the art
of sculpting polystyrene.
It is a light weight material
that can be easily machined, easily handled
that's to say you can carry a two square meter block
pretty much on your own.
It means that by assembling various machined blocks
we can create large scale shapes.
In front of us is a real piece of the cave.
A special machine was required to achieve this level
of high precision machining.
A six axis cut.
It's like an arm.
There's a trunk, a shoulder and a wrist.
And the combination of movements
makes it possible to reach areas
that are very difficult for conventional machines
which work on the basis of a beam
that moves forwards and back.
And an axis that goes up and down.
I feel particularly moved by it
because the first time I saw Lascaux
it was in the art reviews that my mother read.
I remember when I told her
I was going to make the Lascaux cave
she was absolutely delighted.
She's no longer with us
and the cave, I've been part of remaking this cave.
So it means a lot to me.
What you see here is the perfect illustration
of what the pre-historic entrance to Lascaux
might have looked like.
A small court shortening onto the wood
a talus cone and then a tumble of about 20 meters
down to the Hall of the Bulls.
I've been lucky enough to have visited
the real Lascaux cave.
Particularly with Jacques Marsal
one of its discoverers.
This cave gives us an idea of what it was like.
It's the same sound level, the same mineral environment
the same temperature.
Once the river retreated millions of years later
it was visited by pre-historic man.
Here you can see the cave as it was
before it was painted by the men of Lascaux.
Here in the workshop
the first thing to reproduce from the real Lascaux
is the general appearance of the walls.
Artistic director of the project, Francis Ringenbach
is supervising the operation.
In fact, we'll take off the coating
and attach this element
and then we'll have the natural ending of the wall.
The polystyrene blocks
are now assembled on a steel frame.
All that remains now
is to define the texture of the rock more clearly.
This is the job of the modelers
who will work with paper mache.
Polystyrene already shows us
all the hollows and the bumps, things like that.
And then we use this paste
to create the whole mineral aspect of the wall.
All the details that we put in
all the smoothed, eroded granular areas
you learn little by little
little techniques, little tricks
for getting the effect.
Each modeler gives their own view.
Sizing up the wall in progress.
We'll look at that
and then we'll have to blend this bit in
so that it goes down gradually
until we reach the bottom.
This discussion has one aim.
To homogenize the final aspects of the work
and eliminate any inconsistencies.
The goal isn't to make a patchwork
but one wall, one work, all together.
The precision is outstanding.
It's an absolute necessity.
Not a centimeter of the cave wall will be reproduced
without it being geologically perfect.
To show what I'm tackling
is a more precise because there's a fresco here.
I've put up some pictures, some photographs
which allow me to see the details.
Such as for example, this little highlight
which we can see on the screen.
So here I'll be able to outline it
really precisely.
Because I know it's there.
The artists are about to engage
in a long and close relationship with this wall
known as the Shaft scene.
We still got, I don't know
three or four weeks I'd say before we finish
the whole thing.
Before the molding.
At this stage, one of Lascaux's
first secrets has already been revealed.
And we can almost guess at the way Cro-Magnon man
approached this work.
Everything has been chosen
in precise places to accentuate the curves.
Accentuate the temperaments, the looks, the shapes.
It's not done by chance.
There's volume to a head, to a belly
to an eye, a mouth.
It gives an almost character to the figures in front of us
upon which we're working.
Once the polystyrene wall has been modeled
it's time to make the impression for the molding.
The polystyrene will be coated with three layers
of silicon rubber.
Each taking several hours to apply
and a few more, so that the structure can withstand
the next stage.
Watch out, you have to do it gently.
An impression of the cave has now been made
on the back of this rubber skin.
It has to be removed from the polystyrene.
The blocks are thrown away.
They're no longer useful.
After the finesse of the modeling
and the precision of the brush
it's brute force that's now brought into play.
How will the surface be made
upon which the painters will reproduce the frescoes?
More than 900 square meters of walls
will be reproduced.
The whole replica will use nearly seven tons
of silicon rubber
and more than twice that weight of resin for the shell.
That's one finished guys.
This is the next stage.
The modelers apply a thin layer of stone
which will give the wall its authentic mineral appearance
when it hardens.
This stone coating is the artist's canvas.
The blank page upon which they will first
reproduce the appearance of the rock.
Then the frescoes.
On the site, 12 months from the official opening day
the structure, the outline
of the International Cave Art Center
is beginning to take shape.
The structural work is underway.
For us, the structural work
represents more than 140,000 hours of labor.
12,000 cubic meters of concrete
and 700 tons of steel.
The 100 workmen on site
have only been able to keep the project on track
by working in all weathers
and continually rescheduling the different phases
of the operation.
We've had to rethink and review
a great many things that we planned.
The building is so extraordinary
that the perimeters have had to be constantly readjusted
and certain techniques have been tested
and validated as the work went on.
We've had to put some brain power into it
to put additional resources into it
and that was a challenge.
Lascaux deserved the building on par with its fame.
And it was a Norwegian firm of architects
who won the tender by setting the bar very high.
The architecture is really raw.
There are sacred spaces with overhead light.
The feeling you get from being in this space
is really strong.
The concrete, the main components of the facade
has been treated to reflect the underground world.
This is the orientation area of the building.
It's made to look like a horizontal vault.
You're between walls that are leaning in
towards one another.
The idea is to recall the geological zones of the earth
through the vault systems on the walls.
Here, each geological band has been engraved
from the raw concrete
by projecting sand on a steel stencil.
We're straddling two worlds.
Raw architecture and the scenography
where you immerse yourself in the mysterious world
of Lascaux.
An ambitious project both visually and technically
a demanding proposition.
Even the overall shape of the building
recalls that of the hill.
This is the geographical position of the Lascaux Cave.
A few meters away, 150 to be precise
is the entrance to Lascaux II the first replica.
On a broader scale, here is the location of the site
that will house Lascaux IV.
And finally, 800 meters away as the crow flies
at the entrance to Montignac
the Périgord facsimile workshop.
This building is welcoming an exceptional group of artists.
Individuals capable of taking on
a real professional challenge.
What's about to happen here is a human adventure
as artistic director of the project
Francis Ringenbach can only count on one thing.
The talent of his team.
30 people with very different profiles.
There are, for example
art restorers who are used to going into detail
of reproducing square millimeters or centimeters of work.
Each person in turn will be confronted
with the major stages of making the frescoes.
More than just talent, it also takes a good eye.
On this segment of the Shaft scene
there are dozens of square meters to be reproduced.
Among the handful of people
who are currently allowed to enter the Lascaux Cave
is Sandrine, a technician who's help is invaluable
to the artists.
The color is really good there.
Sandrine has been roaming Lascaux
for 20 years and knows it down to the last detail.
They've done a great modeling job here.
It's really accurate.
I must confess it's very impressive.
You really feel you can scrape the clay off the benches.
The finish is really amazing.
To carry out their work
the artists are relying on information
from the digital clone and the photos of the cave.
The two documents are combined.
The artists mainly use a video projector
which allows them to project not just an image
onto the wall but a segment of the 3D model
with it's defamation onto its initial volume.
We have to align the images with the 3D model
and the layer of stone, meaning the wall.
We draw on the outlines of the figures
at particular points on the wall.
Which have been superimposed onto the 3D model.
Two things contribute to fine tuning
this alignment.
Light and shadows.
After that we can start to paint this blank canvas.
But what will the artists paint?
Which version of the cave?
There's no room for free interpretation
or personal expression.
The frescoes will be painted with 18,000 years of history.
We've got the erosion that's taken place.
We've got the moisture that's effected everything.
We can't paint it exactly as it was at the time.
We're painting the effects of time too.
Even the dust has left it's mark
and will be reproduced on the walls.
The colors used are all natural pigments, not synthetic.
Ochers, oxides, as they were 18,000 years ago
in the form of powders arranged in shades
which are finally mixed on the artist's pallet
and as 18,000 years ago, when it comes to applying
the color, technology takes a back seat.
It's down to the human hand, nothing more.
By following the outlines of their frescoes
the artists reveal the full humanity of Cro-Magnon man.
But what makes this testament to the past so powerful?
At the foot of the hill, nine months before the opening
it's difficult to envisage the work being finished
even if everything goes according to plan.
More than 90 people are employed here.
Representing at least 10 trades.
But none of these people has ever entered
or will ever enter the real cave
which will remain closed.
However, they are not unmoved by the Lascaux frescoes.
But what makes this testament to the past so powerful?
Lascaux may not have revealed all its secrets.
Bull, deer, horse, line of dots.
Deer, horse, line of dots, bull.
This mental universe of prehistoric man
into which Lascaux invites us
shows us that humans are making their place in the world.
Going down into this cave
and confronting these paintings
is a unique and very personal experience.
My memory is one of beauty.
One of meditation it goes without saying too.
And also a feeling of fear.
A confrontation that challenges us
without us even understanding its meaning.
Besides, the message of Lascaux has long been misunderstood.
It was believed the Cro-Magnon man painted hunting scenes
on the walls.
The animals they ate.
Well, we were wrong.
It can't only be that
because the most hunted animals
weren't the most represented.
They loved reindeer meat.
And it so happens that reindeers are hardly represented
on the walls at all.
No fish either, or rabbits.
Although they were eaten every day by the men of Lascaux.
Other important elements are missing
from these frescoes.
No horizons, no trees and no man either.
The paintings are therefore symbolic.
The animals are floating
in a completely imaginary space.
We don't understand the relationship
that might exist between a bull, a stag
and these rectangular signs.
It's a break with every day life.
And it's these animals that tell the story.
The animals are always painted
in the same order on the walls.
The figures fit together with extraordinary skill.
As if these images are made to be seen together
and not one after the other.
And what about movement?
Looking closely, none of these animals is really static.
In the Great Hall of the Bulls
the layout on the cobbling, on the corners
of the artworks which are in a circle
surrounding the viewer, creates movement.
Imagine these frescoes illuminated
by the flickering flame of a candle.
It's a little bit like an early cartoon.
Something living whilst being hyper-static.
And finally, the animals are painted in movement.
See these five black horses?
The two front legs start off resting on the ground.
And gradually rise up.
The movement is continual in Lascaux.
600 animals, every species, a whirlwind
which almost make us forget the dots, the lines
which are more discrete.
Numerous signs which is strange in the very least.
There are more than 400 signs.
There are dots, crosses, and lines
for the simple signs.
But there are also very complex signs.
Like the famous quadrangular signs.
Animals, signs, arranged like sentences
on the walls.
A line of dots, horse, bull, deer.
Bull, deer, horse, line of dots.
Deer, horse, line of dots, bull.
Yesterday it was raining.
It was raining yesterday, the same words
but in different orders.
No one knows what they correspond to.
Or what they're supposed to represent.
Amongst all these signs, one stands out.
It seems to be the signature of the painters of Lascaux.
Because it isn't found it any other cave
of the same time.
Horses, deer, ox and bison
figure most predominantly in the Lascaux bestiary.
But an ibex, felines, a bear, and a rhinoceros
complete the list.
As in nature, the numerous herbivores
occupy the wide plains.
The predators are hidden.
They are to be found at the bottom of the cave, lurking.
And where is man in all this?
Man is always there.
He's looking at you, he's disguised.
He's masked, he's transformed into a man animal
or animal man.
And man in fact, when you look for him
you find him.
Is he, as they say, represented only once
in the most remote and mysterious room of the cave?
The one that takes its name from its shape.
The Shaft.
You can see him if you're willing to look for him
in the features of the unicorn.
One of the most emblematic figures of the Lascaux Cave.
There might be a hidden man.
So you have to hide the tip of the nostril
and maybe we can see a nose
and a kind of a beard with a rather enigmatic eye.
We're looking at a work with meaning.
At art, just like any contemporary art today.
Everything has to be in harmony with this art.
And the construction site is no exception.
Here, with the shapes, the outlines
it's a matter of creating atmospheres, spaces
to make this an unforgettable experience
for the visitor.
People are in a state of contemplation.
They are in the atmosphere, in the spirit
in the discovery, they are discoverers.
Here, everyone must have the feeling
like the original discoverers
that they are the first to see the mysteries of the cave.
We're about to enter a confined space
where we are going to be a bit hemmed in
because we're going down into the bowels of the earth.
The atmosphere will be reproduced.
That's to say, the humidity level the temperature.
It has to be something physical
where we're part of the experience.
This space, a kind of buffer zone.
A decompression zone, lies between the replica
and the contemplation room.
Containing several segments of the cave
it's a place in which the visitor can look back
over everything in detail and understand it.
Here, you will be able to get really close
to the wall and play with the lighting
to highlight the engravings.
This is a room that is much more interactive
with high technology.
The latest media and digital tools
will of course be employed.
Visitors will also be able to immerse themselves
in an image cube, control 90 screens
and discover the diverse nature of cave art
throughout the world.
Back in the workshop
and the Center is due to open in seven months.
Work has been progressing for several weeks
on a very unusual chamber.
It's not that it's richly decorated
nor particularly large.
On the contrary, a few monochromatic drawings
and a floor level lower than that
in the rest of the cave system.
An area appropriately known as The Shaft.
You have to climb down into this tunnel
to find out what it conceals.
Waiting at the bottom is a very big mystery.
The Shaft scene is something
that everyone's really looking forward to
because it's never been shown to the public
in its entirety.
A scene that poses questions
and above all, perhaps the only representation of a man.
This wall therefore provides a very special challenge.
The way of drawing in the shaft
is quite different from that in Lascaux.
Like the bulls which are in color
while everything in the Shaft scene is in black.
There's an obvious difference
between the Shaft scene
and the general harmony of the other Lascaux frescoes.
The interesting thing about Lascaux
is that there really was a master.
A master certainly.
And a great knowledge of the animals
that populated their environment.
Yes, yes, really close together but...
And this process was really difficult
to respect what is in the cave
and not to try to show something.
Make it better, try to make it easier.
Exactly.
15,000 years ago, people understood perspective.
They understood aesthetics.
They understood these animals.
This is a testament to what people have done
for a very long time.
We often think of perspective being invented
during the Renaissance.
No, there is perspective at Lascaux.
Everything was thought and planned
and precise, yeah it's very precise.
It breaks the time barrier.
It breaks the boundaries in fact
with our ancestors.
We realize that they'd already developed
all the basic techniques which we still use today.
They already had brushes, they'd already blown paint.
They had air brushes and stencils.
Cro-Magnon men also used their hands
in an astonishing way
to draw the outlines of the some of the frescoes.
Their hands might have been bigger than mine
but it matches up pretty well.
And there's also the volume underneath
which is protruding
so when I put my hand down, I can blow the paint on.
And I take it away, it will leave this line.
Then there's a second one, and a third.
The work is progressing
but for the artists, doubt is also growing.
Does the copy resemble the model?
Beth is one of the people supervising
the painting of the walls.
Every morning I go and see each painter personally.
And I see where abouts they're at on their painting.
If they have any questions.
Because when you're painting one part of the cave
you become very, very encased in that one part
and you sort of tend to forget everything
that's going on around.
Beth has to make sure
that none of the artists is offering their own
personal vision of the fresco
that he or she has to reproduce.
If we put it on beforehand
and varnish it, we're gonna lose the powdery side.
You do realize when there's 20 painters
working together, that we do not see the same things.
We give guidelines, but it's a very personal
very personal thing.
Giving reassurance, leading a group effort
and inviting people to take a step back
is a difficult task.
The painters are often focused for days on end
on a detail a few centimeters big on a wall.
They need to be fully involved.
But nothing in this work will bear their mark
their style.
There is something sacred in there.
We could be reproducing a cathedral.
It would be the same work.
I think we tend to dissociate the sacred side
and the technical side.
This morning in Montignac
Sandrine Geraud Van Solinge
is meeting Muriel Mauriac, the current curator of Lascaux.
They're going to the most restricted place on the hill.
A wooded enclosure under constant video surveillance.
The area containing the Lascaux Caves.
This is a rare moment.
We're outside the monumental bronze door
which has protected this jewel and it's mysteries
for more than 70 years.
The door isn't sealed up.
It's opened sparingly to a few people.
To some privileged people who serve the cave.
Namely, researches who work through research programs
to conserve and better understand the phenomenon
likely to alter the cave.
Is the famous Lascaux Cave
in the Dordogne in danger?
Black spots are spreading over the walls.
A fungus that's worrying the scientists.
Global warming is amongst the causes.
In 2001, and initial warning was given
of a serious danger to Lascaux.
White mold threatening to spread
throughout the whole site.
The problem was treated chemically
but today there are fears that it only made things worse.
At the same time, a massive ventilation system
was installed which it is thought
also upset the natural balance of the atmosphere
in the cave.
The atmosphere inside the cave
which has previously fluctuated with the seasons
was irreversibly changed in 1940.
It was the imbalance at a given moment
that allowed some fungi or certain bacteria
to take the edge over the others.
There are certain areas of the cave
where the roof is only three or four meters
below ground level.
Hence, this great reactivity to the outside environment.
Today, a network of more than 100 sensors
has been installed in the cave.
Among the perimeters monitored
are temperature, humidity levels
and also carbon dioxide.
Due to the effect of moisture and heat
the works in the passageway
and the nave have gradually altered
and deteriorated.
Human presence in Lascaux
is limited to a maximum of 200 hours a year.
But there's another way to continue to study
this type of environment.
We're at the bottom of the
Rocamadour chasm between 400 and 500 meters
from Lascaux, in a cave that has the same geological history
so the good thing is that we can access it
whenever we like.
There aren't the same constraints
and we can make all the scientific observations we want
which can then be extrapolated to Lascaux.
The cave next door to Lascaux
tells us about it's microbiological life.
However, unlike Lascaux
it also gives us information about seasonal variations
and tells us bits and pieces about the ancient history
of the sub-soil of this area.
But it's Lascaux's curator
who gives us a diagnosis of its state of health.
We don't yet know everything
about the origins of the phenomenon.
We have to remain very careful.
Very humble in this area.
So as not to disrupt a balance
that's existed for millennia.
Which has survived until the present day
in which I hope will survive for millennia
after we've gone.
There have been no new outbreaks since the '90s.
But there is no question of becoming complacent
and releasing the cave from its quarantine.
After several months of work
a panel of experts comes to validate
the reproduction of each segment of the cave.
If the result is unsatisfactory
it will have to be done again.
One element is causing some debate
amongst the experts.
The light.
How will the frescoes be lit
when the whole cave is finished?
From what angle?
Vital questions.
You sometimes discover certain fragments
and engravings you've never seen before.
Because our lighting brings out something
that we never noticed.
Our final result will depend on how
we enlighten it.
Until we have the final lighting on our work
that is the only moment where we know
if it's right or not.
Let's go back to the construction site.
A new team has just arrived.
The concrete sculptors.
Charged with reproducing the original entrance
to the cave, the ceilings, and the lower parts
known as the benches.
In short, everything that isn't painted.
It is around the right.
They're going to create the initial outline
of the cave by putting together some metal frames.
A very concrete mesh this time.
A rough outline of the cave walls will be sketched out.
A first draft that this sculptor will adjust
section by section
along the 240 meters of the cave.
The 3D clone of the cave
is also the reference for the sculptors.
After assembling and readjusting the first outline
of the cave
this steel cage is covered with a fine plastic mesh.
The first layer of concrete will be applied
to this mesh.
Which has been meticulously attached to the cage.
Finally, the artists will add the special mortar
to this rigid structure.
Which they will then sculpt in order to replicate
the final appearance of the cave wall.
The fiberglass shells and the frescoes
created by the artists in the workshop
will be positioned on the benches.
They're running out of space and time.
The first pieces of the puzzle
will arrive in a few days.
We'll have to wind our way
through the maze of constructions
that are already in store
to position them very, very precisely.
That is to say, to the nearest centimeter.
In their environment and on the corresponding
metallic structure.
David Delarue acts as liaison
between the workshop and the construction site.
His task will be crucial in the coming hours
because the frescoes will soon leave the place
in which they were made for their final destination.
This is a pivotal moment.
It's tricky to do this in two parts
because you have to match the points here.
We install the first element
and the second element has to join up
with the point here.
Remember the assignment the workshop was given?
Making a replica of Lascaux, a cave that had been segmented
cut into sections.
All these elements of course
make up a gigantic puzzle.
Which at the given moment, has to be removed
from the workshop, transported
and installed on the site.
It's the night before the frescoes leave.
The solidity of the shells has to be checked
once again and the metal structures supporting them.
Jean-Baptiste and David mark out the anchor points
one last time
where the wedges will be placed for transportation
the next day.
Here too, everything is measured to the last centimeter.
The last part of the operation.
It's Ezechiel, who after six months of work
covers the big bulls with a plastic sheet.
In the darkness of the storage area
far from the frantic activity of the workshop
a wall awaits.
Another panel, the unicorn
shrouded beneath a veil of mystery and plastic
will also soon be making its way to the site.
The ceiling, decorated with the Axial Gallery
is one of the largest pieces in the cave's puzzle.
Nearly 10 meters in length.
Bumps and knocks are of course to be avoided
at all costs.
But even more than that, twisting the structure
which would crack the walls
and damage the paintings.
You can see the tension on the faces of those
responsible for the maneuver.
The workshop and the construction site
are barely half a mile apart as the crow flies.
But in reality, it's another story.
They'll have to go up the main street of Montignac
through the town center
and finally out along the road by the school
which is undergoing road works.
A mine field of pot holes and bumps
that they'll have to navigate with the utmost delicacy.
The passageways and frames have all been measured
to within a millimeter.
But will the maneuver go as planned?
The central operator to the left
seems less important to me
than the one on the right.
The one on the right is hyper important.
It's a pretty large fragment
because it's eight meters long
three meters 50 wide.
Two meters 50 tall
and 10,000 kilos in weight, a ton.
We've got about 20 people working on this fragment.
No one likes to see the shell
rocking and swinging around in the air.
Everyone's worried that the wall
will hit a metal post.
But before the fresco can be placed on its stand
it has to be released from the transportation structure.
While David and Jean-Baptiste are taking the time
to fix the locking screws in place
the others have already decided to start moving the wall.
What are you doing?
Communicate!
The shell slides along a rail fixed to the ceiling.
Move it towards me!
Come on, 50 centimeters.
The wall is unbalanced which isn't surprising.
It's an irregular shape.
But this fence is posing real problems.
To move it into position
the team finally opts for the least risky method.
Ropes and brute force.
And a balancing act in every sense of the term.
Hold it back.
The trolley is too far left.
It's no good.
To gain the last few centimeters
they'll have to proceed otherwise.
The crane should do the trick
but it doesn't.
They'll have to start again and do it differently.
They'll have to adjust some elements
of the lower part of the cave.
The only section they can alter
and remove some links of the iron cage.
There won't be any impact on the final appearance
of the replica
because they've several centimeters in which to maneuver.
When we're putting it in place
we try to do it gently.
One leg after another.
If it goes down suddenly, we'll damage the wall
and it will have to be repaired afterwards.
No sooner has the first shell been put in place
then the second one arrives.
There are more than 30 segments to install.
An operation that involves everyone on the site
and remains very time consuming.
In the days that follow, the panels for
the contemplation zone have to be lowered in from above
because the door on the replica side
will be blocked off to allow for
the final installation of all the walls.
Everything is in place.
The bottom panels and the arches
are almost assembled.
But it soon becomes clear that only the frescoes
resemble their models.
There's still a colossal amount of work to be done
on the carved concrete benches.
The sculpture takes much longer.
This is the task of the concrete sculptors.
Who now join the fray for what promises to be
the home stretch of the construction work.
There are four months left
in which to make the replica look like the original cave.
The talus cone, in other words the cave entrance
is the first sculpture that Yves Poisson will tackle.
It's the original entrance to the cave
where the discoverers came in.
We're putting real stones
because there were real stones in the talus
which were embedded in the clay and in the earth.
This whole area was destroyed in 1947.
No digital clones here.
Sketches, a photograph and written testimonies
are the only documents that can guide
the sculptor's hand.
Can you add some more possibly?
They need to be smoother.
Lierre Lavelle described the stalactites
as unpleasantly tickling his back
as he went down the slippery clay slope.
It's from data like that
that we've been able to recreate it.
And then we know the geological composition
of this talus.
The interventions are becoming
increasingly specialized, requiring great skill and time.
But time is short.
There are only a few weeks left
before the Center opens to the public.
Right now, the artists will have to make
this scar disappear.
I'm filling the joints between the walls
of the cave drawings which are made of polyester
and the sculpture that I did in sculpted mortar.
It will make an expansion joint
because it will have a little flexibility.
Avoiding any cracks that might appear
between these two materials.
Which are completely different.
That's what's happening to the shells
in the bases of the replica.
It's the same thing in the contemplation room
where the frescoes will be in full light
and more exposed to the eyes of the visitors.
It's a colossal operation.
No less than 200 meters of joints have to be filled
without leaving the slightest trace.
We'll have to do a lot of work
with the lighting and the raking light
so as not to reveal the ghost of a joint
that might otherwise be visible.
Its not just the frescoes
that have made the journey
from the workshop to the site.
Some of the artists have come with them.
In these noisy and uncomfortable conditions
they have to focus on the detailed work at hand.
Unless they succeed in making the joints disappear
the whole work will be compromised
and the magic of the replica destroyed.
30 feet above their heads
there are people gardening.
The whole of this garden is resting on metal beams.
A feat in itself.
After the shrubs have been planted
time and nature will be left to do their work.
Inside it's not only a cave, but a hive.
The rest of the site is also at the finishing stage.
Final adjustments, technical tests.
The scaffolding is being moved away
whilst the last pieces are adjusted.
The space will soon be left to the visitors.
This replica will not only be a subject of wonder.
A replica of this precision
should allow us better than anything else
to see the work in its entirety
as it is in the original site.
Amongst the mysteries of Lascaux
there's the science and talent of the painters
who were able to draw on a protruding
and uneven surface without their work being distorted.
As if it had been done on a sheet of white paper.
Anamorphosis is a technique
that consists of deliberately distorting
the image that's being created.
So that it appears normal when seen
from a particular point.
That's what happened with the third oryx
which you can see here.
The one with the slightly erased muscle.
If you look at its two front legs
that's where it's interesting.
It really feels as though they are exactly
the same length.
Which is absolutely not the case.
This is the leg I was talking about earlier.
It's 60 centimeters longer than the left.
The artist had to distort it in this way
so that the legs looked in proportion
from the middle of the Hall of the Bulls.
Even more edifying this bull with the duck's bill
is simply being looked at from the wrong angle
because when viewed from the front
from a slightly higher position
this is what we see.
An oryx in all its splendor.
And this demonstration of artistic virtuosity
doesn't end here.
The horse is painted upside down.
It's wrapped around a false pillar
and you can never really see it in its entirety.
When the artist painted it
he never really saw it in its entirety
and never from a distance.
In this tunnel, unable to get any distance
the artist couldn't see the head
and the rump of the animal at the same time.
What is interesting is that with 3D techniques
and readings we have now
we've been able to put this horse in the right place
and see that it is perfectly proportioned.
Long before the frescoes
the caves themselves had to be centralized.
My own feeling is that these caves
these tunnels, these bowels of the earth
were sacred.
That's why they did these paintings
and engravings here.
And it's most certainly a cult
dedicated to animals.
It's all the more sacred
and all the more a sanctuary
because it's a little bit hidden.
These paintings weren't meant for us.
They did them for themselves.
For their descendants.
We're going to pass on this belief, this knowledge.
Lascaux will become the memory of this society.
Today still, it's through these drawings
this message, that school children
get to know our ancestors.
It's also proof that drawing through the ages
whatever our culture
is a faculty that everyone uses to communicate
and reproduce the general forms of what surrounds us.
We want to preserve this heritage.
We want to protect it.
To pass it on to other generations.
Because the real cave is closed
in order to protect it.
We're copying it to protect it.
I thought up this project.
I grew up with this project.
And today I feel and most importantly I know
that the gamble has paid off.
I think we've done a good job.
We're very proud of what the modeling team did.
Discovering the painting from this angle
by making a replica is like nothing else in the world.
That's clear.
Has man really changed much since that time?
Are we not still the same man?
I think there were many hundreds of thousands of people
and I can imagine my own colleagues, my own students.
And indeed, my children coming here
to experience this national asset.
And here, we've really made a bridge.
We spanned these 20,000 years.
Within this cave, there's no distance
between Cro-Magnon man and us.
He emerges as artist and cousin
molded from the same humanity.
Simone Coencas is one of the four boys
who discovered Lascaux in 1940.
76 years later, he can see the same brilliance.
The same vitality in the replica of the frescoes.
Proof that the artists have won their bid
to share Cro-Magnon man's testimony with us once again.
This new cultural tool should insure
that the Dordogne remains the land of pre-history
for a long time to come.
Now, Lascaux IV will allow the thousands of people
from all over the world
who've never been able to see the masterpieces of cave art
to encounter the art of our ancestors.
To immerse themselves in the narrow corridors
of Cro-Magnon man's sanctuary.
One thing is certain, this replica marks its time
and heralds the future of all
the decorated caves on the planet.