Every year some 300,000 people visit the world-famous Lascaux cave in southern France to see its prehistoric paintings. But those who are not forewarned are liable to be disappointed: the cave they enter is only a replica, created 200 metres away fromthe original. The real cave was closed to the public in 1963, after it was found that a combination of carbon dioxide from visitors' breath and microbes on the rock surface were devouring the artwork. Lascaux is not alone. One after another, the doors to subterranean cultural treasures across Europe have been shut.
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