02-05-2017
Snøhetta + SRA + Casson Mann Lascaux IV the Sistine Chapel of Prehistory - Montignac
Archtectural studios Snøhetta and SRA have designed the new Centre International d’Art Pariétal in Montignac, France, with set designers Casson Mann and the assistance of a team of archaeologists to create a copy of the Lascaux caves, nicknamed the "Sistine Chapel of Prehistory", offering visitors an experience of total immersion.
The Lascaux caves in France are known as the “Sistine Chapel of Prehistory” because they contain the most important examples of paleolithic painting in terms of the quality and quantity of the paintings and their degree of preservation. Kept closed since the 1960s to protect their integrity, the caves are once again open to visitors in the form of a copy created by a multidisciplinary team: which archaeologists worked in close contact with set designers Casson Mann and architects Snøhetta and SRA on the design of the new Centre International d’Art Pariétal in Montignac.
The new museum will allow visitors to enjoy an experience of full immersion in the prehistoric paintings through a resin copy made using the most advanced 3D laser scanning and casting technologies, decorated by 25 artists who reproduced the original paintings using the same pigments as were used in the stone age. The temperature, humidity and light conditions of the cavas were recreated in the copy. The challenge the architects faced was how to create contemporary spaces with the right balance to allow visitors to grasp the paintings’ full expressive potential while remaining aware that what is in front of them is actually a copy.
In a highly characteristic landscape, with the hill and dense forest on one side and the farmland of the Vézère Valley on the other, the museum designed by Snøhetta forms a break in the landscape inviting visitors to go into prehistory. The exhibition route follows an established sequence, first upwards to admire the view of the hills and fields and then gently down the slope to begin a voyage through time and space evoking the thrill of the discovery of the cave in 1940.
(Agnese Bifulco)
Architect / Landscape architect / Interior architect: Snøhetta
Scenography: Casson Mann
Associate architect: SRA Architectes
Associate architect, study phase: Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture
Location: Montignac, France
Images courtesy of Snøhetta photo by Boegly + Grazia photographers, Dan Courtice, Eric Solé
http://snohetta.com/
