Grotte des Huguenots

The Huguenots cave is in Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the Ardèche gorges, about a kilometre upstream of the Pont d'Arc. It opens through a vast porch and descends about thirty metres in vertical drop, for a length of about 200 metres. The interior temperature remains stable, around 13 °C.

It was first called the Colombier or Temple cave. According to tradition, Protestants took refuge there during the wars of religion, but no document attests it. Excavations carried out in 1961 and 1991 yielded objects ranging from the Gravettian to the Bronze Age: pottery fragments, worked flints, bone tools and animal remains. Two old coins show that it was also frequented in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A volunteer association, the CÉSAME, presented exhibitions and activities there from 1972 to 2007; since 2009, programming has been run on behalf of the commune.

← Other sites in Ardèche