Carrières de Lumières, Digital art venue in Les Baux-de-Provence, France

Carrières de Lumières is a former limestone quarry converted into a digital art venue. Its main hall, the Salle Dante, is a vast chamber cut by natural pillars 5 to 10 metres wide at the base and 7 to 9 metres high, left by quarrymen to support the roof. These pillars, along with the walls and ceiling, serve as projection surfaces for immersive exhibitions.

Extraction took place from the 2nd century BCE until 1935, when construction materials shifted from stone to modern alternatives. This closure marked the beginning of decades when the quarry lay unused before finding new purpose.

The site's name changed from Cathédrale d'Images to Carrières de Lumières in 2012, when Culturespaces reopened it with an exhibition on Gauguin, Van Gogh and the painters of colour that drew 250,000 visitors. A 90 m² projection room shows excerpts from Cocteau's Le Testament d'Orphée along with interviews with Cocteau and Jean Marais.

The underground space stays cool year-round at around 14 to 16 degrees Celsius, so bringing a light jacket is practical. Since the quarry is completely enclosed below ground, artificial light is the only source and the experience feels entirely immersive and dark.

Jean Cocteau filmed sequences of Le Testament d'Orphée here in 1959, not the 1960s. A 90 m² projection room now shows excerpts from the film and interviews with Cocteau and lead actor Jean Marais.