Spain's famous Altamira caves are briefly being opened to the public, for the first time in 12 years.
Five elderly Spaniards chosen in a draw can marvel at its ice-age paintings of bison, bulls and other animals.
The visit, including time accessing the caves, will last only about half an hour - allowing the group just eight minutes to admire the paintings.
The caves were closed in 2002 to protect the paintings from microbiological damage.
The site has been dubbed the "Sistine Chapel Ceiling of Cave Art", BBC Spain correspondent Tom Burridge reports.
The paintings date back 22,000 years and were discovered in 1876 by a local archaeologist and his daughter. For more than 20 years afterwards, the images were dismissed as fakes.
In the years that followed they were damaged by the breath of human visitors and the caves were eventually closed to the public. For the past 12 years, visitors have only been able to see replica images in a museum nearby.
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Andrew Graham-Dixon describes a visit to the replica Altamira caves
Thursday's five visitors were chosen from a list of people who had visited the replica caves in the Museo de Altamira. They were invited, at random, to enter a draw to visit the original caves.
During the visit, dozen of sensors will monitor changes in the cave's temperature and humidity, to see if more visitors can be allowed in in future, our correspondent says.
As part of the experiment, a total of 192 people will be allowed to see the paintings in weekly visits until August, El Pais newspaper reports.
Despite the historic nature of the viewing, taking pictures will not be allowed. Nor will visitors be allowed to touch the rock.
They will be also dressed in protective clothing, to help prevent contamination of the site.
The images have survived so long because the soluble pigment used to paint them became fixed to their limestone rock canvas.
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