Prehistoric Museum of the “Balzi Rossi” and archaeological area
Opening hours / Our location / Contacts / Events / History / Staff / Documents
| OPENING HOURS | TICKET |
|---|---|
| Tuesday-Sunday 8.30-19.30 Monday closed first Sunday of the month free admission The Caviglione Cave can be visited from 11am-12pm and 3pm-4pm (closed in case of wind or bad weather) |
€ 5 general admission* € 3 reduced-price ticket (18-25 years)*
* ticket cost variation based on Legislative Decree 1 June 2023, No. 61 |
| OUR LOCATION | CONTACTS |
|---|---|
| Via dei Balzi Rossi 9 18039 Ventimiglia IM |
drm-lig.museobalzirossi@cultura.gov.it +39 0184 38113 |
DIRECTIONS AND PARKING ACCESSIBILITY |
| CURRENT EVENTS | ||
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OUR HISTORY
The Caves of the Balzi Rossi are one of the most representative monuments of the history of man in Europe.
The caves open at the foot of an imposing rocky wall of dolomitic limestone from the Jurassic period and are divided into two groups by the railway line. From West to East the Balzi Rossi include: the cave of Conte Costantini, the cave of the Children, the cave of Florestano, the cave of Caviglione north of the railway; the Barma Grande and the Barma du Bausu da Ture (destroyed by quarry works) to the south, and finally the Grotta del Principe still to the north. The researches at the Balzi Rossi, started already in the first half of the 19th century, have been going on for two centuries. Their location on the Italian-French border meant that the investigations were conducted by scientific teams at an international level, unfortunately this has caused the dispersion of many exhibits in various museums in Italy and abroad and in private collections.
The importance of the caves was recognized by Sir Thomas Hanbury, who in 1898 financed the construction of a museum building (the current Old Museum) where the famous “triple burial” was exhibited. A Paleolithic burial dated 25,000 years from today, which includes the skeletons of an adult Homo sapiens and two young people buried at the same time and with a rich set consisting of long French flint blades, perforated marine shells, fish vertebrae, canines of deer, pendants in machined bone.
The complex stratigraphy identified in the numerous caves has returned evidence from the Lower Paleolithic to the most recent prehistory, in particular the numerous burials and human remains found here allow us to recognize the numerous migrations that brought man out of Africa starting around 200,000 years. ago, as evidenced by the fragment of a woman’s pelvis of the Heidelbergensis type.
The cavities nowadays directly overlook the sea and the stratigraphies are evidence of the alternation of different climatic phases with faunas and shells of hot and cold periods.
Numerous female figurines (the so-called Venus) with very evident feminine features were found at the Balzi Rossi and today some of these are kept in Paris at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales. These figurines represent a considerable manifestation in the field of furniture art of the Upper Paleolithic.
Further evidence of exceptional importance is the engraving of the horse from the Caviglione Cave, subjected to and partly superimposed on deep linear engravings, it was identified in 1971 and represents one of the rare examples in Italy of Paleolithic rock art.
In the two museum buildings (the old museum is temporarily closed to the public for safety measures) the exceptional finds found during the research are exhibited and an equipped path allows you to visit some caves.
STAFF
Director| Antonella Traverso
The fruition, reception and surveillance services are guaranteed by
Gessica Bonini
Manuel Borea
Giuseppe Caldo
Carmen Conte
Roberta Di Gesù
Maria Antonietta Segrè
Domenica Taurini
SUGGESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS
Your opinion is important to improve our services | MODULO
DOCUMENTS
| DIRECTIONS AND PARKING | |
|---|---|
| by train get off at Menton Garavan station. The museum can be reached on foot for 20 minutes. |
by car From the Ventimiglia motorway exit take SS 20 and then SS 1 towards France (15 minutes). At the roundabout before the border with France, follow the signs for Museo dei Balzi Rossi. Free parking 2 minutes walk from the museum. |
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| Being updated. | |