About 17000 years ago our remote ancestors decided to re-decorate their cave at Lascaux in the Dordogne. The paintings are among the oldest in the world and lasted unchanged until 1940 when they were rediscovered by some children and their dog.
Opening the cave to the world led to their degradation and a white fungus threatened to destroy the paintings. Treatment with a fungicide seemed to halt this, and as a measure to protect the caves further a complete replica was constructed on the same site.
Now it seems the original paintings are threatened by a black fungus evidently as a result of using the fungicide...
Presumably the replica wont last 17000 years - the cavemen knew what they were doing- but it is well worth a visit and only a few hours distant.
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/
