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visite guidee grotte de la madeleineGuided tours

During the hour long guided tour, you’ll discover one of the most beautiful caverns in France, immense spaces, extraordinary cave formations, and a surprising variety of colors.

The site is 500 meters long and descends in several floors to a depth of 65 meters.

Rooms open to the public from top to bottom :

  • L’Escure, the first room :
  • The crèche : an intimate space the size of an entranceway, with a great variety of formations. A corner of the room holds a statue of Germain Rigaud and his goat.

  • The ossuary : in the past it was filled with clay and animal remains: cave bears-claw marks are still visible on the walls-, hyenas, deer and elk, horses. Arranged in terraces one can appreciate the size and beauty of the upper cave.

  • The Great Room or Chaos Room : at the end of a tunnel opens a grandiose cathedral size room: 50 meters high; 30 meters long. From the platform, the enormous, colorful mass of draperies flowing from the ceiling is thrilling to see. The walls are adorned with spectacular stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, organ pipes, gypsum flowers. The rock draperies are one of the highest in France: 6 meters high, 3 meters wide, 1-2 centimeters thick. Here is where the amazing sound and light show takes place. The tour takes you downward into even more colorful, enchanting spaces adorned with magnificent columns, stalactites, and surprising disc shapes on the walls.
  • The rimstone and the helictites (unusual rock formations): a rim stone is a pool with a thick rim of calcite kept full by rain water seeping through the limestone. Reflected in the water from above are very thin, translucent draperies. In the background vaulting is decorated with all sorts of unusual shapes of helictites.
  • The Column Chamber : named for its many columns and pillars of varied sizes. Draperies, discs, gypsum flowers, tubular stalactites are seen on the floor. The colors here are especially varied, including milky white formations.

  • The back room : the most recently opened chamber is filled with narrow columns. A remarkable vaulted canal and, in the depths to the left, rare crystalline triangular prisms are visible.

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