Allée couverte dite La Roche aux Fées
MonumentHidden Treasure
Allée couverte dite La Roche aux Fées, located in Plénée-Jugon (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Plénée-Jugon, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.3247, -2.4103
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089414
Vestige mégalithique énigmatique du néolithique breton, cette allée couverte dresse ses dalles de schiste avec une majesté qui défie les millénaires. Un portail vers l'au-delà de nos ancêtres armoricains.
History
In the heart of the wilds of the Côtes-d'Armor region, the Roche aux Fées in Plénée-Jugon rises out of the Breton bocage like a monument from the depths of time. This Neolithic covered walkway, listed as a Historic Monument in 1970, is one of the most striking testimonies to the presence of prehistoric man in Armor. Erected with disconcerting precision, its large slabs of bluish schist form a funerary corridor, the very presence of which invites meditation on time and vanished civilisations. What sets this site apart from other Breton megalithic monuments is the singular atmosphere that emanates from it: protected by dense fern and oak vegetation, the building seems to belong to two worlds simultaneously - that of the immemorial past and that of living, invasive nature. The roof slabs, precariously balanced over five thousand years ago, still rest on their orthostats, bearing witness to remarkable architectural skill and a social organisation capable of mobilising significant human resources. The visit is both intimate and breathtaking. You enter the burial chamber with your back slightly bent, unconsciously rediscovering the ritual gesture of those who laid their dead here. The light filtered through the plant cover plays on the rough surface of the stones, revealing the veins and roughness of the local schist. For the sensitive visitor, the immersion is total. The natural setting further enhances the mysterious character of the whole. The area around Plénée-Jugon, with its wooded valleys and moorland interspersed with hedges, has hardly changed in essence since the time of the builders. It is in this gentle, melancholy landscape that the covered driveway takes on its full meaning, anchored in a Breton land that seems never to have forgotten its original inhabitants.
Architecture
The covered walkway at La Roche aux Fées belongs to the classic architectural type of Armorican covered walkway, characterised by an elongated, slightly trapezoidal plan, oriented along an east-west or north-east/south-west axis - an orientation that is not unrelated to solar phenomena, particularly the rising and setting of the sun at equinoxes and solstices. The monument consists of a series of orthostats (vertically upright stones) forming the side walls of the corridor, on which rest heavy horizontal covering slabs, the tables or capstones, laid directly on the uprights. The materials used come from the local geological substratum: Armorican schist, a resistant laminated rock, lends itself admirably to the cutting and shaping of large slabs. Its bluish to grey colour, rough texture and natural cleavage planes guided the choices of Neolithic builders, who were able to exploit the mechanical properties of this rock to create durable architectural elements. Transporting these slabs, some of which can weigh several tonnes, from the rocky outcrops to the site is in itself a logistical feat that testifies to advanced community organisation. The inside of the funerary corridor is delimited by relatively regular walls, leaving an internal space between one and one and a half metres wide and of varying height beneath the covering slabs. As in most covered walkways in the region, the entrance is marked by a narrowing or a door slab with a circular or oval opening, symbolising the passage between the world of the living and that of the dead. This architectural element - known as a porthole or huis - is one of the most distinctive signatures of Armorican Neolithic funerary architecture.
Related Figures
Les bâtisseurs néolithiques de l'Armorique (3500-2500 av. J.-C.) — communautés agricoles anonymes à l'origine du monumentProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, pionnier de la protection du patrimoine mégalithique en FrancePaul du Châtellier — archéologue breton du XIXe siècle, grand inventorieur des mégalithes armoricainsZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue et conservateur breton, figure majeure de l'étude des monuments préhistoriques de BretagneGaillard et de Closmadeuc — érudits bretons ayant contribué au recensement des allées couvertes des Côtes-du-Nord au XIXe siècle
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Allée couverte dite La Roche aux Fées located?
Allée couverte dite La Roche aux Fées is located in Plénée-Jugon, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Allée couverte dite La Roche aux Fées open to visitors?
Allée couverte dite La Roche aux Fées is currently closed to visitors.
