Menhir nord de Pontusval à Plounéour-Trez, ou menhir de Men Marz
MonumentHidden Treasure
Menhir nord de Pontusval à Plounéour-Trez, ou menhir de Men Marz, located in Brignogan-Plage (Département 29), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Brignogan-Plage, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6703, -4.3352
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089852
Dressé face à l'Atlantique sur la côte des Abers, le menhir de Men Marz (« pierre du miracle ») s'élève à près de 8 mètres, son sommet orné d'une croix christianisée témoignant d'un millénaire de syncrétisme sacré.
History
At the heart of the wild landscape of Brignogan-Plage, where the granite chaos of North Finistère plunges into the green waters of the English Channel, stands one of the most impressive menhirs in Brittany: Men Marz, the "miracle stone". This monolith of local granite, carved and planted there by Neolithic hands some five or six millennia ago, stands around 8 metres high above the ground and weighs an estimated several dozen tonnes. Its slender silhouette, tilted slightly out to sea as if in defiance of the horizon, makes it an exceptional photographic subject, particularly striking at sunset when the low-angled light sets its granite surface ablaze. What distinguishes Men Marz from most of its Breton counterparts is the sculpted cross that crowns its summit - an indelible mark of the Christianisation of the megaliths by the Breton clergy in the Middle Ages. The Church, unable to erase these high places of worship deeply rooted in the collective memory, chose to baptise them rather than demolish them. Men Marz thus became a "holy stone", venerated by local pilgrims for its protective virtues, particularly for the sailors and fishermen of Pagan country. The site, listed as one of France's first historic monuments in 1889, is part of a remarkable group of megalithic monuments dotting the coastal strip between Plounéour-Trez and Brignogan. Walkers along the coastal path discover the menhir rising out of the moors and dunes, in silent dialogue with the fantastically shaped rocks dotting the coastline. The atmosphere is one of suspended time, between the rustle of the wind in the gorse and the clamour of the nearby ocean. A visit to Men Marz, which can be reached on foot from the village of Brignogan-Plage, is an ideal extension to an exploration of the surrounding coastline, dotted with secondary menhirs and dolmens that bear witness to dense human occupation as far back as the 5th millennium BC. This area, known as "Pagan country" - not out of impiety, but because it was one of the last to be evangelised - retains a spiritual and landscape identity that is unique in Brittany.
Architecture
Men Marz belongs to the category of isolated menhirs, the most widespread megalithic form in Brittany and the oldest in the Armorican Neolithic corpus. The monolith, carved from medium-grained, bluish-grey granite typical of the Hercynian bedrock of the Léon region, has a tapered, slightly tapering shape, wider at the base than at the top, reflecting the intentional roughing of the stone. Its height above ground is around 8 metres, making it one of the ten tallest menhirs in Brittany, with the buried part representing around a quarter to a third of the total length of the shaft, depending on the Neolithic erection practices observed on comparable monuments. The surface of the shaft bears the scars of time: orange and grey lichens colonise the south- and west-facing faces, while the rock is dotted with traces of tearing away and natural cupules. At the summit, the medieval Christian cross - probably carved between the tenth and twelfth centuries - is the only clearly identifiable human intervention after the original erection. It is carved in bas-relief into the granite itself, with a care and attention to detail that suggests the work of a professional stonemason commissioned by the local ecclesiastical authorities. The siting of the menhir on a slight natural eminence amplifies its height and gives it a dominant presence in the landscape from all directions. Oriented on an approximate north-south axis, it is part of the tradition of the great standing stones of Brittany's Atlantic coast, whose nearest parallels can be found at Kerloas (Plouarzel), the highest menhir in Brittany at 9.5 metres, and at Saint-Uzec (Trégrom), another example of a large Christianised menhir.
Related Figures
Prosper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, dont les travaux d'inventaire au XIXe siècle ont conduit à la protection du siteLes bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes du pays de Léon — communautés agricoles du Ve-IIIe millénaire avant J.-C. à l'origine de l'érection du menhirZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue breton du XIXe-XXe siècle, grand inventorieur des mégalithes du Finistère et du MorbihanLes clercs médiévaux du diocèse de Léon — auteurs présumés de la christianisation du menhir par adjonction de la croix sommitalePaul du Châtellier — archéologue finistérien (1833-1911) ayant documenté les mégalithes du pays Pagan dans ses travaux sur la préhistoire armoricaine
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Menhir nord de Pontusval à Plounéour-Trez, ou menhir de Men Marz located?
Menhir nord de Pontusval à Plounéour-Trez, ou menhir de Men Marz is located in Brignogan-Plage, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Menhir nord de Pontusval à Plounéour-Trez, ou menhir de Men Marz open to visitors?
Menhir nord de Pontusval à Plounéour-Trez, ou menhir de Men Marz is currently closed to visitors.
