000 DRAWINGS ON ROCKS IN MONT BEGO IN THE FRENCH ALPS WILL BE REDUC...
36.000 drawings on rocks in Mont Bego in the French Alps
will be reduced.
Clottes disagrees. “The measure proposed by Henry
are being damaged so rapidly that they will not survive for
de Lumley is the most severe, and while it is the most
future generations.
effective, it is also certain to bring about protests from
The mountain, believed to have once been a site for prayer
people who live there,” he said. “The site was
and worship, is scattered with 4,000 year-old drawings cut
into bare rock. They include pictures of cows with horns,
classified as a historic monument years ago by the
cultivated fields and various gods and goddesses. But as the
Ministry of Culture, and we must do as much as
popularity of the site increases, the pictures are being ruined
possible to save what is there.”
David Lavergne, the regional architect, also wants to
by thoughtless graffiti.
avoid closing the site. “Henry de Lumley’s idea isn’t
Jean Clottes is the chairman of the International Committee
on Rock Art. He says, “People think that because the picture
ideal,” he said. “Our department feels that the best
have been there so long they will always continue to be
solution is to let people look at the site, but because
there. But if the damage continues as this rate there will be
the area is very big it is difficult to prevent visitors
from damaging it. I would prefer that everyone was
nothing left in 50 years.”
able to look at it, but the main problem is financial.
He describes seeing tourists stamping on the drawings,
wearing away the rock and definition of the artwork as they
We don’t have the funds to employ the necessary
do so. Some visitors, he says, even chop off parts to take
number of guards. We may have to consider charging
home as souvenirs
a fee. There seems to be no prospect of government
funding.”
“When people think they can’t take a good enough
photograph, they rub the drawings to get a clearer picture,”
In Nice, Annie Echassoux, who also worked on
researching the site, is alarmed that as the mountain
he said. “The drawings are polished by the weather, and if
becomes easier to reach – tourists can now avoid the
the sun is shining and the visitors can’t see them properly
they simply rub and scrape them to make them look
three-and-a-half-hour walk by hiring vehicles – the
fresher.”
damage will increase rapidly. She thinks that the only
Other researchers describe hoe people arrive carrying long
solution is to rope off the area and provide guides.
“You can’t say the plan can’t go ahead because there
sticks with sharp ends to scratch their own drawings, or even
their names, in the rock.
is no money,” he said. “That is not good enough.
Money must be provided because the Ministry of
But experts are divided over the best way to preserve the
Culture has classified this area as a historic site. If we
drawings. Henry de Lumley, director of the Museum of
don’t take steps, we will be responsible for losing the
Natural History in Paris, believes that the only way to save
the site is to turn the whole mountain into a “no-go” area,
drawings for the next generation.”