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The world’s first ‘underground cinema’

In September 1940, four intrepid boys and their dog set out on an escapade near the town of
Montignac in France. The boys had always been intrigued by local folklore about a secret tunnel
running under the Vézère River, which would lead to hidden treasure buried deep in the woods.

As they walked through the forest, their dog, Robot, ran ahead towards a deep depression in
the ground, at the bottom of which was a small opening. When the boys saw this, they were 5
convinced that the hole was related to the legend. They removed stones from around the edges
with their penknives, then slid cautiously into a narrow, almost vertical shaft which was home to
a multitude of bats. The passage took the youngsters fifteen metres down to a dark,
underground chamber littered with stalagmites.

‘The descent was terrifying,’ recalled Jacques Marsal, who was just fourteen at the time, the 10
youngest of the boys.

Once inside the chamber, they used an oil lantern to look around them. To their surprise, the
walls and ceiling of the cave were covered with spectacular paintings. Marsal described them as
‘a procession of animals, larger than life, that seemed to be moving’. The images were brilliantly
multicoloured in reds, blacks, browns and ochres. Mesmerized by their discovery, they ventured 15
further into the cave. By then, the lantern light was fading and the boys realised they needed to
return quickly to the surface.

Determined to keep their discovery to themselves, the boys swore an oath of secrecy. They met
up the following morning. This time they used a rope, and one by one, they slid into the
darkness, plummeting to the lowest level of the cave. 20

By the third day, they could keep their secret no longer. Each of them took five friends to see
the cave, charging a mere forty-cent admission fee. Marsal defined this as ‘the first commercial
exploitation of the cave’. Once word was out, the news spread like wildfire, and soon the entire
village was lining up to peer at the astonishing pre-historic paintings of our Cro-Magnon
ancestors. To accommodate the crowds and to make access easier, the boys removed even 25
more stones.

The cave opened its doors officially in 1948. Almost immediately, thousands of tourists flocked
to visit to what is now known as the world-famous Lascaux Cave.

© UCLES 2020 E/S8/INSERT/01