Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Rouffignac Cave, also known as Cro de Granville Cave, is a cave with more than 250 engravings and drawings dating from the Upper Paleolithic (Magdalenian, more than 13,000 years ago). It is 8 km long and is one of the largest caves decorated in Europe. The works, including 158 mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, bison and horses, were made with manganese oxide from Saône-et-Loire, 450 km away. The walls also bear bear traces of caves prior to human occupation.

The cave was mentioned in 1575 by François de Belleforest, then in the 17th century by Canon Jean Tarde and Louis Moreri, who evoked "paints" and "remnants of cattle". In the 18th century, Gabriel Bouquier took the lead. Rediscovered in 1948 by the Périgueux Spéléo Club, its authenticity was confirmed in 1956 by an international committee including Henri Breuil and Paolo Graziosi, after a controversy about the prehistoric origin of the works.

Classified as a historical monument in 1957 and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 among the Vézère Valley sites, the cave has been open to the public since 1959. The visits, by electric train, allow to travel 4 km of galleries. In 2022, it attracted 65,000 visitors. Recent research focuses on digital lines, revealing symbolic behaviors of Paleolithic children.

The site also houses traces of the Bronze Age, as evidenced by the data of Monumentum, although most of the works date from the Magdalenian. The cave, known under various names (Miremont, Cro des Cluzeau), was also a place of modern graffiti before its protection. Today, it is managed with a quota of visitors to preserve its exceptional heritage.

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