Dolmen dit Dolmen de la Forêt
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen dit Dolmen de la Forêt, located in Gennes (Maine-et-Loire), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Gennes, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.3425, -0.2739
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00109418
Vestige mégalithique niché dans les bois de Gennes, ce dolmen angevin dresse ses orthostates de grès roussard vers un ciel millénaire — témoin silencieux d'une civilisation néolithique à l'œuvre sur les bords de Loire.
History
In the heart of the gentle forests of the Val d'Anjou, just a few kilometres from the banks of the Loire, the Dolmen de la Forêt de Gennes stands out as one of the most discreet and bewitching megalithic funerary monuments in the Maine-et-Loire department. Far from the tourist hustle and bustle that sometimes accompanies the major sites in Brittany, this dolmen offers an intimate encounter with one of mankind's oldest architectural traditions. Like most Anjou dolmens, the building is made up of several upright stone slabs - the orthostates - which support one or more massive roof tables. The stone used is typically local tufa or sandstone, materials characteristic of the geology of the Loire, which give the whole structure an ochre and golden hue in perfect harmony with the surrounding undergrowth. While this woodland setting masks some of the monument's majesty, it also lends it a mysterious atmosphere conducive to contemplation. The visit is above all a sensory experience: the silence of the foliage, the moss covering the age-old stones, the smell of the damp earth of the Anjou bocage. Here, you can feel the depth of time in a way that few "built" monuments are able to convey. Visitors who take a moment to pause under the cover table instinctively understand why these structures have survived five or six millennia without man's desire to destroy them. Gennes is also remarkably rich in prehistoric, Gallo-Roman and medieval remains - a Roman amphitheatre, several menhirs and dolmens, a Romanesque church - making it one of the densest archaeological destinations in the Pays de la Loire. The Dolmen de la Forêt is a natural part of this exceptional heritage trail, which is ideally complemented by a visit to the Musée de Gennes and other megaliths in the area.
Architecture
The Dolmen de la Forêt de Gennes belongs to the family of so-called "simple" or "single-chamber" dolmens, the most common type in the Loire basin. It consists of several vertical uprights (orthostats) made of local sandstone or tufa, set into the ground and designed to delimit a burial chamber with a roughly rectangular plan, covered by a horizontal slab (the table). The typical dimensions of these Anjou monuments put the chamber at between two and four metres in length, with a width of one to two metres and a height under the table of around one to one and a half metres. The way they are built is typical of Western European megalithic architecture: the blocks, extracted from nearby quarries, are erected and wedged in place without the use of mortar or binders, their stability being ensured by their own weight and by the mound of earth and small stones that originally surrounded them. This mound, which has now largely disappeared or been eroded away, may initially have formed a tumulus several metres high, partially masking the chamber and giving it the appearance of an artificial mound in the landscape. The choice of a site on the edge of or in the heart of a woodland is not necessarily original: today's woodland may have gained ground since the Neolithic period, when the landscape was probably more open, cleared of trees by the first farming communities. The orange and verdigris patina of the stones, covered in places with lichen and moss, bears witness to the extraordinary durability of the materials and the age of the building.
Related Figures
Constructeurs néolithiques anonymes (vers 4000-2500 av. J.-C.) — communautés agro-pastorales ligériennesÉdouard Hyacinthe Poirier (archéologue angevin du XIXe siècle, contributeur à l'inventaire des mégalithes de Maine-et-Loire)Gabriel de Mortillet (préhistorien français, concepteur des premières typologies mégalithiques nationales au XIXe siècle)Membres de la Société archéologique et historique de l'Anjou (fondée 1839, premiers inventaires systématiques)
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen dit Dolmen de la Forêt located?
Dolmen dit Dolmen de la Forêt is located in Gennes, Maine-et-Loire department, Pays de la Loire region, France.
Is Dolmen dit Dolmen de la Forêt open to visitors?
Dolmen dit Dolmen de la Forêt is currently closed to visitors.
