Art lovers enraptured by 'prehistoric' cave paintings (shame they're only copies of 17,000-year-old originals next door)



Visitors stare, amazed by the cave art in Lascaux, south west France.

The expressive lines and bold colours are dramatic and exciting, conveying the energetic animals roaming alongside the artist responsible for these paintings thousands of years ago.

Mesmorising: Art-lovers can't take their eyes off the full-scale replications of the prehistoric work



However, the pictures you see are actually replicas of real artwork produced in prehistoric times residing in the cave next door.

The originals - thought to be some of the oldest paintings in the world - had to be locked away in the Lascaux Cave in 1963 to preserve them from deteriorating as a result of visitors' humidity and warmth.

It had in the region of 100,000 visitors each year and the combination of so many people and strong lighting started to have a detrimental effect on the 17,000-year-old exhibition.

Stunning: The vibrant colours and distinctive style makes these paintings stunning - but unlike the originals that are less than 50 years old



However, managers of the tourist site did not want to deprive future visitors from seeing these prehistoric works.

And so, they created Lascaux II - an exact replica of the cave and art - painted by local artist Monique Peytal.

Located on the same hill as the original, this large-scale copy took 10 years to complete and now receives approximately 300,000 art lovers every year.

It many not be the original but that doesn't make these chambers any less stunning.