Snøhetta Designs a Contemporary Cave at Lascaux

Back in 1940, a group of teenagers in southwestern France discovered a cave containing thousands of paintings and engravings, created 20,000 years earlier. Their now-famous find, at Lascaux Cave, provides a glimpse into life at the dawn of civilization. Thanks to a clamoring, highly curious public, officials restricted access to the cave in 1963 due to preservation concerns. And it’s remained in the dark—until now. Beginning this spring, visitors can witness this treasure at a new museum near the site, Lascaux IV: International Centre for Cave Art. Designed by Snøhetta, the building blends into the hilly terrain of Vézère Valley, save for a concrete facade that sticks out like a gaping crack.

“We have invented nothing,” said Picasso after visiting the cave in the ’50s. Likewise, the architects approached the project with understandable humility. “In a way, it’s connecting contemporary man directly to the prehistoric artist,” says architect Rune Veslegard, Snøhetta’s lead on the project. The main attractions at Lascaux IV are the down-to-the-millimeter replicas of the cave’s painted walls (the real thing is a stone’s throw away). These are presented as multimedia installations, devised by the London scenography firm Casson Mann. As for the space itself, it’s a contemporary imagining of underground twists and turns. “It’s an abstract interpretation of the spatial qualities that can be found in caves,” says Veslegard, “Without trying to copy the cave itself.”

David Basulto is the founder and editor-in-chief of ArchDaily.

(Photos: Eric Solé)