Alignement des menhirs de Leïtan
MonumentHidden Treasure
Alignement des menhirs de Leïtan, located in Brennilis (Département 29), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Brennilis, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.3551, -3.8131
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00135356
In the heart of Brittany's Finistère region, five granite menhirs have been tracing a mysterious line 40 metres long since Neolithic times. A silent witness to the first builders, planted on the edge of the living world.
History
Nestling in the rugged landscape of the Monts d'Arrée, on the outskirts of the village of Brennilis, the menhirs of Leïtan form one of those alignments that punctuate inland Brittany with their enigmatic presence. Five blocks of local granite make up the group: one still stands proudly, the solitary sentinel of a group that was once organised along a north-east/south-west axis; the others, laid low by time or absorbed into the surrounding fence slopes, seem to have fallen asleep without ever quite disappearing. What distinguishes Leïtan from many Breton megalithic sites is precisely this privacy. The alignments are not spread out over kilometres like those at Carnac; they are concentrated in just forty metres or so, in an ordinary agricultural plot, as if protohistory had slipped quietly between the fields. This discretion gives it a singular, almost domestic atmosphere, which forces you to come closer to grasp the power of the blocks - each measuring around three metres in length. The setting itself adds to the mystery. Brennilis lies at the heart of Yeun Elez, the marshland of the Monts d'Arrée that Breton folk tradition readily identifies with the antechamber to the Celtic underworld, the Youdig. Visiting Leïtan is like superimposing two timeframes: the immense Neolithic period in Finistère, and the more recent but just as pervasive oral culture that has kept the mysteries of this land alive. For the attentive visitor, the experience is one of active contemplation. You look for the line, mentally reconstructing it between the standing and lying stones, imagining the collective effort required to transport these monoliths from probably local granite quarries. No barriers, no excessive museification: the menhirs of Leïtan offer themselves to those who take the trouble to find them, in the sincerity of a Breton landscape that centuries have not entirely domesticated.
Architecture
The Leïtan alignment belongs to the category of megalithic monuments of the "alignment" type, i.e. a group of standing stones arranged along a more or less regular linear axis. Here, five blocks of local granite form a roughly north-east/south-west alignment over a length of around 40 metres - a modest size by Breton standards, but representative of the many secondary sites that once dotted the Finistère region. The blocks, each around three metres long, have the robustness characteristic of Armorican granite: a medium-grained rock of magmatic origin, with grey and bluish hues that lichens and mosses have patinated with shades of ochre and green over the centuries. Only one menhir remains upright, planted in cadastral parcel 136; the other four lie horizontally, victims of time, the vagaries of farming or ancient human movements. One of them, partially buried in a fence embankment, illustrates the vulnerability of these monuments to land pressure. The absence of sophisticated carving is deliberate, or at least characteristic of the period: Neolithic builders selected natural blocks with suitable shapes - elongated, tapering towards the top - which they extracted by fire and percussion before transporting and erecting them using human and animal power. This apparent rusticity is nonetheless a remarkable logistical and architectural feat, illustrated by the sheer size of the Leïtan stones.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes du Finistère (Ve-IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.)Paul du Châtellier (archéologue finistérien, XIXe siècle, recenseur des mégalithes armoricains)Zacharie Le Rouzic (archéologue breton, pionnier de l'étude des alignements mégalithiques)James Miln (archéologue écossais, fouilles de Carnac, contribua à la connaissance des alignements bretons)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Alignement des menhirs de Leïtan located?
Alignement des menhirs de Leïtan is located in Brennilis, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Alignement des menhirs de Leïtan open to visitors?
Alignement des menhirs de Leïtan is currently closed to visitors.