Menhir de Clos-et-Bé
MonumentHidden Treasure
Menhir de Clos-et-Bé, located in Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys (Département 56), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.5325, -2.8446
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091675
A stone sentinel that has stood guard over the Rhuys peninsula since Neolithic times, the Clos-et-Bé menhir has stood watch over the Breton fog for over five thousand years and is listed as a Historic Monument.
History
Standing in the discreet silence of the Rhuys peninsula, the Clos-et-Bé menhir belongs to the family of standing stones that dot the Morbihan landscape like markers of a sunken civilisation. This solitary, imposing monolith of Breton granite stands in one of the densest megalithic zones in Europe, just a stone's throw from the Gulf of Morbihan, a sacred inlet of the sea that Neolithic peoples seemed to cherish with particular devotion. What sets the Clos-et-Bé menhir apart from the countless other standing stones in the region is its unique geographical location: situated in the commune of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys, at the southern tip of the peninsula, it benefits from a coastal environment where land and sea engage in a conversation that goes back thousands of years. The Atlantic light that bathes this site gives the monolith a changing presence, alternately golden at dawn and silvery under the overcast skies of Armorique. The visit is as much a meditation as an archaeological walk. Faced with this block of granite rising from the bowels of deepest Brittany, visitors are made aware of the colossal collective project that erecting such a menhir represented: dozens of men, weeks of labour, a sophisticated social organisation that for a long time was refused to be attributed to these so-called "primitive" populations. The roughness of the stone under your fingers, the lichens that colonise its sides in grey and orange patches, the way the monolith splits the sky - everything adds up to a timeless experience. The surrounding area magnifies the stone: the Rhuys peninsula combines Breton bocage, coastal moorland and open views over the Gulf. The Clos-et-Bé menhir is the ideal place to visit in combination with Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys abbey, founded according to tradition by the Irish monk Gildas in the 6th century - an eloquent superposition of two moments of spirituality on the same territory, separated by thousands of years.
Architecture
The Clos-et-Bé menhir is a monolith of granite, a rock characteristic of the Armorican basement, with bluish-grey hues dotted with crystals of feldspar, quartz and mica. Like the vast majority of menhirs in Morbihan, it was extracted from a natural outcrop, roughly trimmed to give it an elongated, tapering shape towards the top, then sunk into the ground over a significant portion of its height to ensure its stability. The visible height above the ground is estimated at several metres, in line with the usual dimensions of isolated menhirs on the Rhuys peninsula, which generally range from two to five metres in height. The surface of the monolith bears the scars of time: lichenic colonisation forming orange, grey and greenish patches that bear witness to centuries of exposure to Atlantic sea spray and climatic variations. Unlike certain remarkable menhirs in the Morbihan region, such as Manio in Carnac, the stone bears no identified engravings, suggesting either a simpler function as a territorial marker, or that the original traces have been lost to erosion. The siting of the menhir probably reflects a logic of visibility and orientation, common to megalithic practices in the region: positioned at a relative height or in a clear line of sight towards the gulf or towards a remarkable point in the landscape, it was intended to function as a signal in the Neolithic territory of the peninsula. The surrounding soil, sandy-loam mixed with weathered granite, is typical of the land around the Pointe de Rhuys.
Related Figures
Prosper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques au XIXe siècle, initiateur du recensement systématique des mégalithes bretonsGildas le Sage — moine irlandais fondateur de l'abbaye de Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys au VIe siècle, figure tutélaire du territoireZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue carnacéen (1864-1939) qui consacra sa vie au recensement et à la protection des mégalithes du MorbihanJames Miln — archéologue écossais (1819-1881) ayant conduit les premières fouilles systématiques dans la région de Carnac, ouvrant la voie à l'étude scientifique des mégalithes morbihannaisPierre-Roland Giot — préhistorien breton (1919-2002), figure majeure de l'archéologie néolithique armoricaine et autorité sur les monuments mégalithiques
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Menhir de Clos-et-Bé located?
Menhir de Clos-et-Bé is located in Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Menhir de Clos-et-Bé open to visitors?
Menhir de Clos-et-Bé is currently closed to visitors.
