Grotte de lombrives

The Lombrives cave opens at Ussat, about 3 km south of Tarascon-sur-Ariège, a hundred metres above the valley. It is part of the Lombrives-Niaux-Sabart network, which extends over more than 14 km, with galleries and halls of great dimensions where the temperature is around 10 °C. The site has been listed since 1943. Excavations began there as early as 1822 and yielded a bone breccia of the Bronze Age containing remains of Homo sapiens.

The cavity served as a refuge for centuries. Legend places there a Cathar treasure hidden after the fall of Montségur in 1244 and the tomb of Princess Pyrene, linked to Hercules and the name of the Pyrenees. An inscription of 1578 recalls the passage of the future Henry IV. In 2021, the "Deep Time" mission had fifteen people live there for forty days without daylight. Concretions with evocative names mark the route, which is partly made by little train.

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