Until 1963, people were able to go into the Lascaux Cave in France to look at the ancient paintings there. But the moisture and CO2 from their breath began to destroy the paintings, so now it is forbidden to enter. The cave is one of 10 places you're not allowed to visit that YouTuber Joe Scott presents in this video.
Other places include:
- North Sentinel Island (the people living there shoot arrows at people to try to visit)
- Poveglia Island in Italy (a dangerous deteriorating former mental hospital run by a sadist)
- Vatican Secret Archives (open to scholars only)
- Snake Island in Brazil (too many deadly snakes)
- North Brother Island in New York (dangerous deteriorating hospital)
- Room 39 in North Korea (where, according to defectors, the leaders have plotted "counterfeiting, illegal arms, and drug deals and cybercrime operations")
- Metro 2 in Moscow (Stalin-built secret underground city and escape route)
- Surtsey Island in Iceland (scientists want to keep people from visiting so they can study how life evolves there)
- Chapel of the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia (purported to contain a "sacred gold-covered chest of the Israelites and it's rumored to contain the two stone tablets of the ten commandments, Aaron's Rod, and a pot of mana")