The Associated Press reports that the cave complex at Altamira in Spain – known as the Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic Art – will re-open after eight years of closure, despite scientists' warnings that heat and moisture from human visitors will damage the site.
The Culture Ministry and the site's board of directors said Tuesday that visits to the Caves of Altamira in the northern Cantabria region will resume next year, although on a still-unspecified, restricted basis.
The main chamber at Altamira features 21 bison painted in red and black, which appear to be to charging against a low, limestone ceiling. The site was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985. The paintings are estimated to be 14,000 to 20,000 years old.
Discovered in 1868, the cave complex became a tourist magnet and by the 1970s received 3,000 visitors a day. Body heat and moisture from people's breath were blamed for a gradual deterioration of the images, and from 1982-2002 only a handful of visits were allowed each day.
The cave was completely shut off to most visitors after scientists detected green mould stains on the paintings in the main chamber.
A replica of the caves was built in a museum in 2001.
In April of this year, the government's main scientific research body, called the CSIC, recommended that the caves remain closed. "The people who go in the cave have the bad habit of moving, breathing and perspiring," CSIC researcher Mariona Hernandez-Marine wrote then.
The site's board vhas oted to reopen, however, calling the caves too valuable to keep closed.
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