Alignements mégalithiques dits Les Demoiselles de Langon
MonumentHidden Treasure
Alignements mégalithiques dits Les Demoiselles de Langon, located in Langon (Département 35), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Langon, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.7209, -1.8544
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090612
Emerging from the moors of Upper Brittany, the Demoiselles de Langon form a Neolithic megalithic alignment of rare sobriety, where menhirs standing on the moor evoke a legend of petrified women under the stars.
History
In the heart of Upper Brittany, in Langon, in this land of hedged farmland and marshland on the border of Ille-et-Vilaine and Loire-Atlantique, stands a megalithic alignment known by the evocative name of the Demoiselles de Langon. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1976, this site is one of a constellation of stone memorials that the Neolithic period sowed throughout western France, and which the centuries have not succeeded in erasing. The line-up of menhirs is no accident: Neolithic builders chose their sites carefully, in line with the solar and lunar cycles and the lines of force in the landscape. Here, the blocks of local schist and granite, cut or rough as the case may be, form a discreet but persistent line, the vestige of a ritual whose exact nature still eludes us. It's not the excessiveness of Carnac that strikes you here, but an almost supernatural intimacy with the earth and the sky. The very name of the site is an invitation to an imaginary journey. "Les Demoiselles" - like so many other Breton alignments so named - refers to the enduring legends of girls caught dancing on a Sunday or at a secular festival, petrified by divine punishment. These tales, collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by Breton folklorists, form an intangible heritage that is inseparable from the stone itself. The visit takes place in an open, gentle landscape, typical of this often little-known inland Brittany, far from the wind-battered coasts. The silence that surrounds the menhirs, the short grass, the low evening and dawn lights give the site a contemplative atmosphere that lovers of megalithism, landscape photography or simply wild nature will fully appreciate. For the curious visitor, Langon also boasts a nearby chapel, Sainte-Agathe, with its remarkable Gallo-Roman frescoes, making the village an archaeological site with two entrances: prehistory and Antiquity meet here in a dialogue that is rare in France.
Architecture
The Demoiselles de Langon alignment is made up of a series of menhirs standing in a row, whose linear layout and orientation suggest an astronomical or ritual intention specific to Neolithic megalithic practices in the western Armorican region. The blocks, made of local granite and schist - rocks characteristic of the Breton bedrock - have naturally rough profiles, with little or no squaring, which is typical of the alignments of Upper Inner Brittany, less meticulous in their finishing than some coastal sites, but of irreproachable archaeological authenticity. The height of the best-preserved menhirs varies from around one to two metres, with several blocks having been partially buried or toppled over the centuries by ploughing, frost and human redevelopment. Their position in the ground, ensured by a base buried several tens of centimetres deep, guaranteed the stability of the whole over the long term. The spacing between the blocks follows an irregular but not random rhythm, consistent with the practices observed at other comparable sites such as the Moulin alignments at Carnac or the Pierres Droites at Monteneuf, a few dozen kilometres to the south-west. The site's immediate environment plays a key role in its architectural and landscape interpretation: the open moorland, unobstructed horizons and absence of dense vegetation allow visitors to appreciate the relationship between the menhirs and the sky, a fundamental relationship in the design of these monuments, where the verticality of the stone is in dialogue with the infinite sky. Unlike dolmens or covered walkways, no covered superstructure completes the alignment; here, monumentality is all about rhythmic repetition and mineral persistence.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes (vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.) — communautés agricoles à l'origine de l'érection des menhirsProsper Mérimée (1803-1870) — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, pionnier de l'inventaire du patrimoine mégalithique françaisZacharie Le Rouzic (1864-1939) — archéologue breton, référence pour l'étude des alignements de la région armoricaineCollecteurs de légendes bretonnes (XIXe siècle) — folkloristes comme François-Marie Luzel, ayant fixé par écrit les récits associés aux Demoiselles
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Alignements mégalithiques dits Les Demoiselles de Langon located?
Alignements mégalithiques dits Les Demoiselles de Langon is located in Langon, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Alignements mégalithiques dits Les Demoiselles de Langon open to visitors?
Alignements mégalithiques dits Les Demoiselles de Langon is currently closed to visitors.
