Marseille - Grotte Cosquer

Since June 2022, the Villa Méditerranée hosts a detailed replica of the "Cosquer Cave" from the nearby Calanques National Park with cave paintings up to 33,000 years old. This cave, whose entrance is 37 m below sea level, was first discovered by Henri Cosquer in 1985. He completed several dives into this cave over the course of months. In 1991 cave paintings were discovered.

The entrance to the cave was towards the end of the Würm Ice Age, i.e. at the time of use, about 80 m above sea level and about 11 km from the coast. This changed when the sea level rose sharply due to the thawing of the polar ice caps.