Marseille: the replica of the Cosquer cave, the “underwater Lascaux”, opens its doors today
The replica of the Cosquer cave opens its doors to the public this Saturday, June 4 in Marseille, in the Bouches-du-Rhône. 20,000 years old, it is one of the most beautiful vestiges of prehistory.
A gem of prehistory. A true masterpiece of parietal art, the replica of the Cosquer cave opens its doors today in Marseille.
Also called the “Lascaux submarine”, it took place at the Villa Méditerranée, a modern building, but until now unused, located next to the Mucem.
Discovered in 1985 by Henri Cosquer, the cave is 20,000 years old and its rock walls are littered with more than 500 cave paintings.
Horses, bison and penguins
Thus, after two and a half years of work, the Kléber-Rossillon company, chosen to lead and manage this 23 million euro project, is opening the third copy of a prehistoric cave in France to the general public after those of Lascaux in the Dordogne. and Chauvet in Ardèche which she had already done.
Henri Cosquer, 72, scuba diver and organizer of a diving school in the Mediterranean, had fallen by chance, by 37 meters deep, on the entrance to the cave which today bears his name.
On its emerged parishes, an unforgettable spectacle awaited: the representation of 229 figures of 13 animal species, horses, ibex, cattle, deer, bison, saiga antelopes, but also seals, penguins, fish, never seen in other caves previously discovered prehistoric.
“Our desire was to show a wide audience this inaccessible place, but also to preserve a heritage doomed to disappear by the rise of the sea”, explained the promoters of the “Cosquer Méditerranée” project.
800,000 visitors expected this year
Rocked by the voice of actor Philippe Caubère, on a story by prehistorian Thierry Felix, visitors will slip silently into a reconstituted mineral garden with its stalactites, its wet effects, its transparencies, its patina and its water basins reflecting the rock.
The main panels of the cave, copied by plastic artists, follow one another under beams of light: “The beach” (entrance to discovery), “the panel of the horses”, “the marine animals”, “the large well” with his black hands and “the sign of the bison” and his red hands.
If the original of the Cosquer cave is larger than its replica, “1,750 m2 of cavern, 100% of the painted walls and 90% of the engraved walls will be shown” assures Laurent Delbos, site manager.
The visit ends on the top floor of the building with exhibitions devoted to prehistory and climate change, including a dynamic projection illustrating the rising waters in the bay of Marseille.
Some 800,000 visitors are expected the first year, 500,000 the following.