LA GROTTE COSQUER ❘ NATURAL WONDERS


E


La Grotte Cosquer is an underwater treasure trove which has been painstakingly recreated at Cosquer


Méditerranée (above right)


ver seen a prehistoric penguin, or even knew such a thing existed? No, me neither until today. Strictly speaking, they are probably great auks, which were indigenous to northern climes until they were hunted to extinction in the 19th


century. The key fact here, though, is that on the roof of an underwater cave in Mediterranean France there are drawings of these Arctic birds which date back some 30,000 years – a real sign of changing environmental conditions over the past millennia, from a climate more Nordic than the sunny warmth of Provence we know today. Welcome to Cosquer Méditerranée.


UNDERWATER TREASURE Following in the well-trodden footsteps of the internationally famous and UNESCO-listed prehistoric caves of Lascaux and Chauvet, the museum at Cosquer Méditerranée, in Marseille, has employed cutting edge technology to create a facsimile, allowing visitors to explore a fragile and irreplaceable cave system without damaging the original. Cosquer Méditerranée takes this principle a step further than its land-based predecessors though, since the original Grotte Cosquer is located under the sea, some 40 minutes by boat along the coast from Marseille and is only actually accessible by diving. The story of La Grotte Cosquer and its discovery is the stuff of movies. In 1985, diver Henri Cosquer came across the entrance to an underwater cave system. Over the ensuing years, he visited the caves on numerous occasions, exploring and extending his knowledge of this remarkable location. In 1991, realising its full signifi cance, Cosquer declared the cave to the French Ministry of Culture, which arranged for offi cial studies and authentication to begin. Realising the sheer number and quality of the prehistoric carvings and paintings, which easily rivalled those found in other French locations, the cave was classifi ed as a historic monument in September 1992.


❯❯ Aug/Sep 2022 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 127


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148