Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc

Vallon-Pont-d'Arc

On 18 December 1994, three cavers, Jean-Marie Chauvet, Éliette Brunel and Christian Hillaire, slipped into a cavity in the gorges of the Ardèche. The walls bear lions, rhinoceroses, bears, mammoths, horses and bison. Jean Clottes, of the Ministry of Culture, authenticated the cave on 29 December. The first radiocarbon dates, as early as 1995, gave 30,000 to 32,000 years. More than 200 datings followed: Aurignacian people drew the first images around 36,000 years ago, and Gravettian people returned around 30,000 years ago. The collapse of the porch, 21,500 to 23,000 years ago, then sealed the cave. It holds more than 1,000 graphic entities, including 598 animals, and some 4,500 cave bear bones. The cave was listed in 1995, bought by the State in 1997 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2014. It will never open to the public: the Grotte Chauvet 2 replica, opened in April 2015, has already received more than 3.5 million visitors.

French Ministry of Culture — 30 ans de la découverte de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc ↗

Getting there: The original cave opens in the cliff of the cirque d'Estre, above the Pont d'Arc; it is closed to the public and cannot be visited. Its replica, Grotte Chauvet 2 - Ardèche, lies on the D4, 3 km east of the town of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (44.4061; 4.4290); open all year, booking advised in season. Coordinates of the original from OpenStreetMap, approximate.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound