Carnac, in Brittany, is one of the high places of megalithic culture. The great standing stone alignments are to Brittany what Stonehenge is to prehistoric England. I first visited this as a very young child and there is somewhere a picture of me sitting on a megalith aged about four. Nowadays though, a visit to Carnac is rather different, as the menhirs (a Breton word for standing stone) cannot be approached most of the time, due to the huge numbers of visitors to this site who had started to endanger the soil around the monuments.
The Morbihan area is particularly rich in megalithic structures, and around Carnac itself, there are many outstanding monuments to visit such as the amazing sculpted cairn at Gavrinis or the megalithic ensemble at Locmariaquer which comprises two tumuli (covered tombs) and a massive standing stone which before it was broken measured 20 metres (64 ft) and weighed almost 350t. You could if you so wished organise to have a megalithic day and take in a few of these amazing sights.
On to Carnac itself then. On the day of our visit, we decided to visit the museum of prehistory first. This is situated in the village. Interestingly, it was founded by a Scotsman, James Miln, back in 1881. The visit follows a chronological order from the Lower Paleolithic (600 000 BC) to the early Middle Ages and helps put some sort of context to a visit to the alignments. It offers explanations as to how menhirs might have been erected and how dolmens (two or more standing stones supporting a horizontal
slab marking a tomb) were made, an extraordinary feat as the stones involved can be absolutely enormous. You can also see many objects belonging to the Neolithic, the era when the monument builders lived (5 000-2 000 BC) and get a sense of their daily life. On the whole I was very impressed with this museum and I felt it added to our subsequent visit of the monuments. My husband, who doesn't speak French, felt a little let down by the booklet in English he was given which was meant to facilitate his understanding of the exhibits, but which was so badly organised as to be practically useless. He did enjoy the visit all the same. My 15 year old son, who had elected to come with us rather than check out the market in the village, managed to do the whole visit without dying of boredom (just).
From one of the museum's windows, we noticed a strange looking hill with a chapel on top and learned that the 'hill' was in fact entirely manmade in the Lower Neolithic period (4500 BC) and was actually a tumulus. Unfortunately, this was closed for restoration and therefore we couldn't visit it, but we were able to marvel at the sheer size of this mound (125m long by 12m high or 410ftx38ft). From the top, we could take in a view of the whole surrounding area including the megaliths, the coast and the nearby islands, aided by the orientation table. We then drove out of the town, following the road signs.
By now, we couldn't wait any longer to see the alignments. After all, this is an example of Western Europe's first ever architecture. There are three main alignments to see. The amazing thing is that these alignments date from 3000BC, that is to say they are 5000 years old! I will try to describe them for you, but they are such an extraordinary sight that words fall somewhat short of fully expressing their strange and austere beauty. Make sure you take a look at the pictures below if you want a better idea.
We started with the Ménec alignments which are over 1km (0.8mi) long and 100m (330ft) wide and comprise 1099 menhirs (though I didn't count them to make sure) arranged in 11 rows. The rows start from a cromlech (semicircle) of 70 menhirs which partly surround the hamlet of Ménec (where you can stop at a little créperie for some refreshment). It is worth going there as you will get an end view of the rows of menhirs, and not just see them side on as you would from the road.
Unfortunately, at this site as well as the others, you are not permitted on the field where the rows of menhirs are. This is to preserve what is after all our heritage; in fact the site is in the process of becoming a UNESCO world heritage site. While I could understand the reason for the fence that surrounds the field, part of me wished I could walk among those magnificent giants. Others didn't just wish, they simply climbed over the fence, much to my annoyance. We had been at another site a few days before where there was an amazing huge dry stone tumulus and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw people allowing their children to climb on it and start throwing stones around. These stones had only been there since 4600BC, but as long as it kept the kids amused, that's the main thing!!!! I could feel myself turn into a right old Victor Meldrew! Anyway, I digress, but people who are stupid enough to do stuff like that are the reason the rest of us are no longer allowed to get near these amazing places.
This can be a very busy place but because it's so big, it doesn't feel too bad. If you want to avoid the crowds however, you should try and visit in the morning. There is a 'Maison des Mégalithes' close by, with the obligatory shop and a short audiovisual presentation, but it is worth going there to take the view from the roof. A visit with commentary can be booked from there for €4, and presumably this allows to get inside the enclosure and see the alignments better. This being organised by Monum (centre des monuments nationaux), I would expect it to be a worthwhile €4.
The next alignment, that of Kermario, occupy a similar area, with 1029 menhirs this time. This also has an 'allée couverte' (a gallery tomb) at one of its corners. Make sure you walk to the old mill which has been turned into a viewing platform.
There are other, smaller alignments at Kerlescan east of Kermario. This one comprises 555 stones in 13 rows.
The area also has other megalithic remains, well worth seeking out, in particular other, less famous and smaller alignments where you can actually go near the stones.
So, the question that imposes itself on the visitor is to understand the purpose of these imposing arrangements of stones. Through the ages, there have been many interpretations of the monuments, some of them very amusing: lunar observatory, cemetery, calendar, soldiers petrified by St Cornille as they were about to catch him, pillars of Hercules, stone tent pegs left by Roman soldiers, the list goes on. In one Asterix album, it is suggested that Carnac was in fact made by Obelix!!! Gustave Flaubert (of Madame Bovary fame), wrote a very amusing piece making fun of many of those ideas. His conclusion? " …if anyone asks me, after so many opinions, which is my own, I shall utter one that is irrefutable, irrebuttable, irresistible. […] And here is that opinion: the stones of Carnac are indeed big stones!"
I'm with Flaubert on that one… I don't think we will ever really know what the stones of Carnac were for, their origin lost forever in the mist of time. But I think that is what makes Carnac such a magical, mysterious, beautiful place. Best to leave it at that.
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