Allée couverte, dite Minguionnet
MonumentHidden Treasure
Allée couverte, dite Minguionnet, located in Gourin (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Gourin, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.0790, -3.6148
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091205
On the edge of Morbihan, the 5,000-year-old granite slabs of the Minguionnet covered walkway stand in a landscape of moorland. A Neolithic funerary corridor of striking sobriety, listed as a Historic Monument.
History
Hidden away in the wooded heights and moors of the Gourin region, right in the heart of inland Brittany, the Minguionnet covered walkway is one of those silent monuments that nevertheless speak with rare eloquence. Erected around five millennia ago by Neolithic communities who had mastered the art of the megalith, it is one of a constellation of collective tombs dotted around Morbihan, one of Europe's richest departments in terms of prehistoric heritage. The building takes the typical form of an elongated burial chamber, covered with large granite slabs corbelled or supported on orthostats planted in the ground. This stone corridor, oriented with a precision that is no doubt not accidental, was intended to guide the souls to an afterlife that we can only imagine today. The quality of the workmanship, and the selection and movement of blocks weighing several tonnes, bear witness to an elaborate social organisation and remarkable technical mastery for the period. To visit Minguionnet is above all to agree to slow down. The approach through the Breton vegetation - gorse, fern, birch - is a natural preparation for the site's contemplative atmosphere. The inside of the chamber, accessible by bending down, reveals the grey and green patina of millennia: lichens colonise the surfaces, the stones sometimes ooze humidity, reminding us that this monument remains alive, in its constant interaction with the natural environment. The geographical setting enhances the experience: Gourin lies in the Pays Pourlet, between the Montagnes Noires and the Ellé valley, at an altitude that gives the horizons a breadth conducive to meditation. The low-angled morning or evening light, particularly in autumn, dramatically highlights the edges of the slabs and the depth of the shadows in the corridor. Photography, archaeology and hiking enthusiasts will all find something to suit them here, in a site spared from the tourist crowds.
Architecture
The covered passageway at Minguionnet is typical of this type of Neolithic funerary monument: a relatively long, straight corridor formed by two parallel rows of orthostats - vertical slabs of local granite - on which large horizontal covering tables rest. The chamber thus formed offers a low, narrow interior space, typically two to four metres wide and up to ten metres long, although the exact dimensions of Minguionnet have yet to be determined by an up-to-date archaeological survey. The material used is exclusively granite, the dominant rock in the subsoil of inland Brittany. The blocks were quarried nearby, cut by percussion and pulling, then brought to the site by human and animal traction. Their surface, rough-hewn or slightly upright, bears the marks of time: cracks, grey and yellow lichenic colonisation, moss deposits that give the stones a unified hue and velvety texture characteristic of Breton megaliths. As with most Armorican covered walkways, the orientation of the corridor seems to reflect an astronomical or symbolic intention, often linked to the rising sun at the equinoxes or the winter solstice. A possible porch or antechamber at the entrance, common in well-preserved examples from the region, could have marked out the symbolic boundary between the world of the living and that of the dead. The ensemble originally lay under a mound of earth and gravel, now largely levelled, of which only a few traces remain on the immediate periphery of the slabs.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes du Pays Pourlet (v. 3500-2500 av. J.-C.) — communautés paysannes à l'origine de l'édificeÉrudits de la Société Polymathique du Morbihan (XIXe siècle) — premiers inventaires des mégalithes morbihannaisProsper Mérimée (1803-1870) — inspecteur des Monuments Historiques, promoteur de la protection du patrimoine mégalithique bretonZacharie Le Rouzic (1864-1939) — archéologue carnacéen dont les travaux sur les mégalithes du Morbihan ont établi des références comparatives essentiellesJames Miln (1819-1881) — archéologue écossais qui contribua à la mise en valeur scientifique des mégalithes armoricains
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Allée couverte, dite Minguionnet located?
Allée couverte, dite Minguionnet is located in Gourin, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Allée couverte, dite Minguionnet open to visitors?
Allée couverte, dite Minguionnet is currently closed to visitors.
