Step inside the Mystère des Faluns...

Mystery Faluns, site of Perrières, Doué-La-Fontaine

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In Doué-la-Fontaine, 20km South West of Saumur, an incredible attraction known as the Mystère des Faluns invites you on a dreamlike discovery walk through the site of Perrières. The story of these underground cathedral-like caves, the only ones of their kind in France, is told through an astonishing setting.

Be swallowed by a whale!

What if you were to enter the belly of a whale? In the very middle of the tour that twists and turns through the series of the Perrières caves and galleries to tell the tale of the Mystery of the "Faluns" (a kind of fossil-rich rock), there appears the skeleton of the animal, drawn out of the shadows by a few beams of light... Children approach it in awe, daring to dash between the bones of the imposing structure. This is one of the many surprises created by sculptors, artists, video artists and musicians to bring this underground tour to life.

A dreamlike exploration in an astonishing setting

This visit gives way to a dreamlike 1-km walk that travels back ten million years, when the site was covered by the sea. A ballet of jellyfish, a jungle from the Miocene period, a frightening shark and a supernatural mirror of water all emerge in turn; magical scenes inspired by scientific data that tell the story of the place, swapping laborious explanations for visual and sound effects.

A series of impressive caves

Visitors' senses will all be stimulated as they discover the destiny of these majestic 18th century, 15-20 metre-high caves excavated when the famous "falun" rock was being extracted from the Perrières quarries. Used particularly in the construction of houses, this shell-filled rock was formed very long ago indeed, before man even appeared. Are you ready for this amazing journey?

Dive into the underwater world of the troglodyte site of Perrières

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