Page 264 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

Monumental Menhirs
Menhirs can be found across
Brittany’s interior from Saint
Uzec to Belz – the most famous
site is the town of Carnac (p279).
Here visitors flock to marvel at
the thousands of ancient granite
rocks arranged across three
fields in mysterious lines and
EXPERIENCE Brittany early as 4000 BC. Their original
patterns by megalithic tribes as
purpose remains obscure: the
significance was probably
religious, but the precise
patterns also suggest they
adhere to an early astro nomical
calendar. Celts, Romans and
Christians have since adapted
them to their own beliefs.

Standing sentry for millennia,
the striking stones of Carnac
guarding the secrets of the past

BRITTANY FOR
PREHISTORIC

MONUMENTS

Here on the Atlantic fringe of Europe, mysterious arrangements of massive
granite rocks bear witness to our earliest past. Those at Carnac are the
best known, and as such they draw the most visitors, yet these Neolithic
monuments, each with its own history, are found throughout the region.

Mysterious Tombs
Often obscured by long grass,
dolmen, passage graves
carved with swirls and
symbols, form portals to the
underworld. Wander down
the hairpin country lanes
around Dinan and these
“fairy houses” seem to pop
out of nowhere. One of the
most remarkable is found on
the tiny island of Gavrinis in
the Golfe du Morbihan (p280).
At the winter solstice, the sun
shines directly down the
passage to hit the back wall –
The Gavrinis passage a tantalizing clue to the belief
grave, closed to the world systems and rituals of the
for thousands of years ancient people who built it.

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