Rick Steves' Europe © 2023 | As the Ice Age glaciers melted, European civilization was born — and with it, so was art. From the Stone Age came prehistoric art: mysterious tombs, mighty megaliths, and vivid cave paintings. Then the Egyptians and the Greeks laid the foundations of Western art — creating a world of magical gods, massive pyramids, sun-splashed temples, and ever-more-lifelike statues.