Diving into the Limousis cave

Descending into the Limousis cave means reliving the sensations ofcavemen. First of all, expect a change in temperature, especially if you come in summer. The temperature here is a constant 14° all year round. So pack a little wool and warm clothes for the children. Be aware that thearea is damp, with puddles on the ground, and you'll need non-slip shoes.

The highlight of the show is an enormous limestone concretion hanging from the ceiling of the last room like a chandelier, hence its name. It is the largest aragonite chandelier in the world. To obtain this reward, you must first complete the entire route and cross the first six rooms.

After paying the entrance fee (there is no online ticketing service at the moment), you enter the cave on a fairly gentle gradient (less than 10 metres), unlike the chasms that descend vertically. We know that prehistoric man lived here in the distant past, as did the cave bear, which the former had to hunt in order to take possession of the place. It is even said that prehistoric man was a music-lover, who used fine limestone concretions to compose tunes. We already knew he was a painter...

The tour covers 1 km, through labyrinthine passageways and 7 rooms open to the public. Please allow around 1 hour. You'll start in a small room where you'll notice some wine barrels: these are the wooden casks used to age the Améthyste cuvée concocted by the Cabardes and Minervois winegrowers. This wine was once called Cristal de Grotte, and now you know why. We'll talk more about it at the end of our visit.

Along the way, in the rooms that follow, the guided tour will point out the many traces and vestiges left by the cave bear, in particular the claw marks inscribed in the limestone of certain walls. Evidence of the bear's sedentary existence can be found in the teeth and bones of bears found here in the 1930s. They lived there between 30,000 and 10,000 years BC.

We also know that man has lived there since time immemorial (tools and pottery have been found, as well as bones). In the 1st room, we explain that excavations carried out in 1937 on the initiative of the parish priest of Limousis, a great archaeology enthusiast, showed that the cave was occupied by man in Neolithic times (prehistory), but also during Antiquity, the Iron, Copper and Bronze Ages and right up to the Middle Ages. It's easy to imagine that the Cathars took refuge here during the Albigensian Crusade and the Inquisition. We also learn that the passageways today are not identical to those of times gone by, the ground having been dug out to make it possible to stand on them.

You then arrive in the Salle des Colonnes, where limestone columns rise and fall. The vaulted ceiling makes it feel like a church in Languedoc. Along the way, you can admire the cave's gours, natural limestone basins that have held back water for centuries. Another gallery leads to the Green Lake chamber, the first lake on your journey, whose water glistens in emerald reflections.

Next come the Ball Room and the Great Lake Room. The 1st commands the 2nd. It is here that you will discover the first concretions of aragonite that foreshadow the final touch: the chandelier. All you need to know is that aragonite (which takes its name from Aragon, in Spain) is a mass of crystals formed by the trickle of mineral water and magnesium. They gain 3 to 5 millimetres per millennium. Visually, the effect is unique.

The Grand Lac can be viewed from a metal footbridge overlooking it, while an underwater light shows every detail of the bottom of the immense basin. The footbridge then leads to the large Chandelier Room.

This is the largest and most majestic room in the grotto. Here, the aragonite chandelier hangs from the ceiling, where it imposes its mass of several cubic metres, in a volume four metres high and ten metres wide, in a fascinating play of light. The swarming crystals that make up the chandelier are a fascinating sight.

The tour ends with a tasting of Améthyste, a wine aged here in oak barrels that benefit from a constant temperature of 14°, 85% humidity and the altitude of the Black Mountain. The result is a racy, tannic wine with hints of blackberry and truffle. At the beginning of the last century, the village festivals in Limousis gave the villagers the opportunity to come and dance here in the Salle du Bal, which takes its name from this tradition. This festive spirit has clearly endured. The wine that rests here is testimony to this.