A
Andy Kay
Guest
Knowing lots of British cavers visit France, I'm passing on some unfortunate news from the Dordogne.
Don't bother coming to Les Eyzies with the specific intention of visiting the Speleo Museum: 'cos it won't be open. (Though there are many other reasons to go there) There was a break - in on March 4th, with some of the showcases broken, and a considerable number of exhibits (many of which were unique or irreplaceable) stolen. Strangely, the thieves targeted metallic or mechanical objects, which leads police to believe that the perpetrators were either after stuff that could be sold as scrap, or otherwise as curios in fleamarkets. As a result, a quantity of geological, paleontological, or prehistoric articles remained untouched, although some could be very valuable to specialist collectors.
It was the fourth burglary in the museum's forty-five year existance, and has been the straw that's broken the camel's back. Over the last three years the Speleo Club de Perigueux which built and ran the place entered into an agreement with the municipality of Les Eyzies to jointly manage the museum in an effort to keep it open. But visitor numbers have steadily decreased over the last decade, resulting in running at a loss, and this present setback has proved too much. Rebuilding the collections would be a mammoth task in itself, not to mention repairing the physical damage, and finding sufficiant volunteers to do the work impossible.
What the future holds for the prehistoric cliff - fortress site which housed the museum is as yet uncertain.
If on your travels in the area you happen to see any unusual antique caving kit on sale in street markets, either draw it to the attention of the gendarmes, or let me know via this site, please.
Don't bother coming to Les Eyzies with the specific intention of visiting the Speleo Museum: 'cos it won't be open. (Though there are many other reasons to go there) There was a break - in on March 4th, with some of the showcases broken, and a considerable number of exhibits (many of which were unique or irreplaceable) stolen. Strangely, the thieves targeted metallic or mechanical objects, which leads police to believe that the perpetrators were either after stuff that could be sold as scrap, or otherwise as curios in fleamarkets. As a result, a quantity of geological, paleontological, or prehistoric articles remained untouched, although some could be very valuable to specialist collectors.
It was the fourth burglary in the museum's forty-five year existance, and has been the straw that's broken the camel's back. Over the last three years the Speleo Club de Perigueux which built and ran the place entered into an agreement with the municipality of Les Eyzies to jointly manage the museum in an effort to keep it open. But visitor numbers have steadily decreased over the last decade, resulting in running at a loss, and this present setback has proved too much. Rebuilding the collections would be a mammoth task in itself, not to mention repairing the physical damage, and finding sufficiant volunteers to do the work impossible.
What the future holds for the prehistoric cliff - fortress site which housed the museum is as yet uncertain.
If on your travels in the area you happen to see any unusual antique caving kit on sale in street markets, either draw it to the attention of the gendarmes, or let me know via this site, please.
