An exceptional natural site

55 meters high, 50 meters wide, the porch of the Niaux cave has aroused all the curiosities since Prehistoric times

The men of the Magdalenian did not fail to notice this immense porch located at 678m in height and to leave their imprints there. Abbé Henri Breuil said when speaking of this place: “ Nature seems to have predestined Tarascon-sur-Ariège to become an important center of prehistoric habitat. We are there (…) in the vicinity of the great plain, also at the entrance to one of the deepest penetrating valleys of the central chain. It is the passage of the great path dug by Ariège that animals and man had to follow at all times. »

The entrance to the Grotto is marked by a daring contemporary creation, marking the artistic permanence of the Prehistory of Humanity to the present day. In 1994, the Italian artist Massimiliano Fuksas signed a completely new reception building located in and outside the porch. Its architecture surprises, questions and invites visitors to forget their world and prepare for a journey to the origins of art ...