Workshops

Saturday, September 11, 2010

A Dordogne Day


We spent two nights in Sarlat, a quaint town in the heart of France.








The jumping off point for the Lascaux cave is the cute little village of Montignac. A perfect and charming little French town, which was in the middle of a celebration.









Our destination of the day: Lascaux II, Cro-Magnon Cave Paintings. The caves were discovered in 1940 by four teenagers and a dog. The 70th anniversary of the discovery of the caves will be celebrated on Sunday with all four of the teenagers returning to the cave - now a bit older - along with the President of France (no word on the dog). These caves were closed to the public in 1963 because of deterioration through the introduction of humidity and fungi. More damage was done in 20 years than in the previous 15,000! Lascaux II is detailed replica of the original cave art showing horses, bulls, and a single image of a man. Impressive use of color, action, and dimension at such a rudimentary level. 15,000 years ago! Holy cow.





No photos were allowed in the cave, so I snapped a photo of a post card!


We asked about where the original Lascaux was located and it was only 200 meters up the hill, so we made the short walk to at least have a look see. The entrance was completely closed off by a tall fence, but it was very cool to see the original site, even from a distance.



Some of my favorite photos for this day.






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The photo under Howard now that is looking good all that nice junk. Your photos are fantastic, thanks. Tory

Melissa said...

My third graders are enjoying your adventures through France. We are studying your vacation as a part of our Social Studies curriculum each day. We are comparing and contrasting cultures and communities. Love you much! xoxoxo

gl. said...

dayna, you are SO CUTE in that Sarlat photo! and i'm really admiring your traveling clothes. belle!