Menhir dit de l'Accomodement
MonumentHidden Treasure
Menhir dit de l'Accomodement, located in Montreuil-Bellay (Maine-et-Loire), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Montreuil-Bellay, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.1176, -0.1355
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00109201
A stone sentinel that has stood since the Neolithic period on the outskirts of Montreuil-Bellay, the Menhir de l’Accommodement watches over the Thouet valley, an enigmatic remnant of a civilisation that was already shaping the landscape of the Anjou region.
History
Standing in the Saumur countryside like a finger pointing to the sky, the Accommodement menhir belongs to the family of standing stones that discreetly dot the Anjou region, silent witnesses to a Neolithic civilisation whose intentions we can still only imperfectly decipher. A few kilometres from the medieval castle of Montreuil-Bellay, this monolithic boulder establishes an unexpected dialogue between the ages: on one side, the rough stone torn from the earth by unknown hands over five thousand years ago; on the other, the crenellated towers of a 15th-century castle. The contrast is striking, almost dizzying. What makes this menhir so special is above all its name: l'Accommodement. A rare name in the corpus of French megaliths, it probably refers to a now-forgotten local anecdote - a neighbourly quarrel settled here, a land agreement sealed under the impassive eye of the stone. This type of popular toponymy, inherited from rural centuries, is in itself an additional layer of history, that of the people who lived alongside the monument without always understanding its original mystery. The visit is an invitation to a slow and singular contemplation. The menhir stands in a typical Maine-et-Loire farming environment, between hedged farmland and vineyards, often under vast skies. The low-angled light of the evening or dawn is ideal for revealing the textures, the mosses embedded in the grain of the rock, the gentle undulations of the surface that has been worked - or simply eroded - over the millennia. A place conducive to meditation and reflection on the depths of human time. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1967, the Accommodement menhir benefits from official protection that guarantees its preservation. It is part of a remarkably dense network of megaliths in the Anjou region, where the Maine-et-Loire department is one of France's richest in dolmens, covered walkways and standing stones, the legacy of intense ceremonial and territorial activity in the Neolithic era.
Architecture
The Accommodement menhir is a monolith carved from a rocky material characteristic of the Saumurois subsoil, most likely a dark tufa or local sandstone quarried from an outcrop a short distance from the erection site - a constant practice of Neolithic builders who kept transport distances to a minimum. The stone has a slender, slightly tapered shape, typical of menhirs in western Anjou, with a wider base to ensure stability and a narrower top, sometimes slightly rounded by centuries of wind and water erosion. Its height, probably between two and four metres from the surface - a common size for isolated menhirs in Maine-et-Loire - gives it the immediate presence and legibility in the landscape that were undoubtedly the qualities sought by its builders. The surface of the stone is marked by the passage of time: grey and green lichens, moss, micro-cracks reflecting the cycles of freezing and thawing. Unlike some Breton menhirs, there are no engravings or sculpted ornaments, which is consistent with megalithic practices in this geographical area. Technically, erecting the monolith required a remarkable degree of collective organisation: extracting the block from the quarry, transporting it on logs or sledges, digging a siting pit, then gradually straightening it using levers and plant-fibre ropes. The lower third of the menhir is generally buried in the ground, a fundamental principle that has ensured the stability of the whole structure for thousands of years, without the use of any binding agents or equipment.
Related Figures
Populations néolithiques du Saumurois (4500-2000 av. J.-C.) — érigeurs présumés du menhirPropriétaires fonciers locaux (époque moderne) — à l'origine probable du nom 'Accommodement'Inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques (années 1960) — auteurs de l'inventaire mégalithique ayant conduit à la protection de 1967
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Menhir dit de l'Accomodement located?
Menhir dit de l'Accomodement is located in Montreuil-Bellay, Maine-et-Loire department, Pays de la Loire region, France.
Is Menhir dit de l'Accomodement open to visitors?
Menhir dit de l'Accomodement is currently closed to visitors.