Nicknamed "Perigord's Sistine Chapel," the Grotte de Lascaux - or Cave of Lascaux - is, unfortunately, now closed to the public. Though the cave has been in existence for millions of years and recent Carbon-14 samples have shown the paintings contained within them to be over 30,000 years old, modern-day pollution and the bodily emmisions of thousands of human visitors has had disasterous effects on the cave.
It wasn't always that way, of course. Prior to its discovery, images of bison, horses and mammoths graced the walls and ceilings of the cave, and remained virtually untouched since the days that prehistoric artists used engraving, sculpting, drawing and painting techniques to create them. But when four teenage boys (Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel and Simon Coeneas) out playing with their dog Robot discovered the entrance to what is now called "the painted gallery," that all changed.
By the end of the 1940s, almost 2,000 people per day were touring the caves. And by 1955, there were indications that the paintings were deteriorating at a rapid pace. It was determined that excess CO2 was the cause, so the caves were closed in 1963 by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
Today, visitors can still view The Painted Gallery and The Great Hall of the Bulls (covered with images of horses, bulls and stags), but they are replicas of the original. Located on the left bank of the river Vezere in Perigord, the "caves" that are open to tourists today provide a taste of what seeing the originals must feel like, and help visitors to understand the significance of what the discovery meant for modern-day man.