Allée couverte de Bel Evan ou Bellevan
MonumentHidden Treasure
Allée couverte de Bel Evan ou Bellevan, located in Plouër-sur-Rance (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Plouër-sur-Rance, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5270, -2.0327
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089473
A Neolithic vestige buried in the Breton soil of Plouër-sur-Rance, the Bel Evan covered walkway unfurls its thousand-year-old granite slabs in an almost sacred silence, a rare testimony to a megalithic civilisation now listed as a Historic Monument.
History
Nestling in the countryside of Plouër-sur-Rance, just a stone's throw from the winding banks of the River Rance, the covered alleyway of Bel Evan - also spelt Bellevan - is one of those monuments that you come across with the unsettling sensation of travelling through time. Built around five or six millennia ago, during the Final Neolithic period, this collective burial site is part of a megalithic tradition that has left a lasting mark on the Armorican landscape. Its mere presence, in a discreet farming area, is enough to remind us that Brittany was one of the most intense centres of megalithic culture in Western Europe. The Bel Evan covered walkway stands out for the relative integrity of its structure: its granite orthostats, long planted in the Breton soil, support massive roof slabs, some weighing several tonnes. This architecture, which requires no mortar or cement and is held together by gravity and weight alone, demonstrates a remarkable technical mastery for a people who would be wrong to describe themselves as primitive. The narrow corridor leading to the burial chamber gives an impression of intimacy and contemplation that the centuries have not erased. For the attentive visitor, the site offers a dual interpretation: archaeological and landscape. The site is set in the lush green bocage typical of the Rance region, where thick hedges and sunken lanes seem to jealously guard the monument's secret. The low-angled light of the morning or evening is particularly conducive to revealing the relief of the stones and the traces of tools left by the Neolithic builders on certain surfaces. Far from the crowds that flock to Carnac or La Roche-aux-Fées, Bel Evan is one of those places that enlightened prehistory enthusiasts cherish for its preserved authenticity. The site was listed as a Historic Monument in 1981, confirming its importance as a heritage site and guaranteeing its protection for future generations. A visit here is an intimate encounter with one of the oldest forms of human architecture.
Architecture
The Bel Evan covered walkway is typical of Armorican megalithic burials from the late Neolithic period: an elongated corridor, generally oriented east-west, bounded by a double row of orthostats made of local granite. These vertically upright slabs, which are usually between one and two metres high for this type of monument, support large horizontal roofing slabs that form a continuous roof over all or part of the chamber. Granite, the dominant rock of the Armorican basement, was chosen for its robustness and availability in the Plouër-sur-Rance area. The total length of the monument, comparable to the covered walkways found in the region - generally between eight and fifteen metres - gives an idea of the scale of the construction effort required by the Neolithic builders. Some of the roofing slabs can weigh several tonnes, requiring a sophisticated collective effort to transport and install them. The entrance to the alley, generally marked by a slab pierced by a porthole or by a simple narrowing of the corridor, constituted the symbolic threshold between the world of the living and that of the dead. As with many Breton megaliths, the original structure of Bel Evan may have been partially modified over the centuries, with certain orthostats being moved or disappearing, partial collapse of the covering slabs, and filling in or erosion of the mound of earth and stones that covered and protected the site. Despite these inevitable alterations, the architectural legibility of the monument remains sufficient to understand its constructive and functional logic.
Related Figures
Communautés néolithiques de la vallée de la Rance (bâtisseurs du monument, vers 3000-2500 av. J.-C.)Érudits de la Société d'Émulation des Côtes-du-Nord (XIXe siècle, premiers inventaires et descriptions scientifiques)Prosper Mérimée (inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, initiateur de la protection des mégalithes en France au XIXe siècle)Zacharie Le Rouzic (archéologue breton, référence pour l'étude des mégalithes armoricains au début du XXe siècle)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Allée couverte de Bel Evan ou Bellevan located?
Allée couverte de Bel Evan ou Bellevan is located in Plouër-sur-Rance, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Allée couverte de Bel Evan ou Bellevan open to visitors?
Allée couverte de Bel Evan ou Bellevan is currently closed to visitors.