Menhir
MonumentHidden Treasure
Menhir, located in Pleumeur-Bodou (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Pleumeur-Bodou, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.7954, -3.5092
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089441
A stone sentinel since the Neolithic period on the moors of Pleumeur-Bodou, this listed menhir embodies five millennia of human presence in Brittany, between megalithic mystery and the wild landscape of Trégor.
History
In the heart of the Trégor moors, in Pleumeur-Bodou, a menhir stands like a silent witness to a bygone age. Raised by unknown hands some five thousand years ago, it belongs to the constellation of megaliths that make Brittany one of the richest regions in the world in terms of prehistoric monuments. Its mere presence, vertical and stubborn against the Armorican sky, is enough to arouse the vertigo that is characteristic of great ancient sites. This menhir is part of a region that is particularly rich in megalithic remains. Pleumeur-Bodou, a commune in the Trégor region, is home to several monuments of this type, bearing witness to intense and structured human occupation from the Middle and Late Neolithic periods. These standing stones are not just accidents in the landscape: they mark ritual spaces, territorial boundaries or cosmic landmarks that agrarian societies of the time carefully organised. The visitor experience is striking in its simplicity. There is no infrastructure to mediate between the visitor and the stone. You approach it on foot, often from a sunken path or a bracken moor, and the silhouette of the menhir gradually takes shape. Its granite surface, strewn with grey and golden lichens, bears the patina of time in an almost tactile way. Photographers will find the low-angled light exceptional at dawn or dusk, when the elongated shadows reveal the grain of the rock. The surrounding scenery adds to the atmosphere of the place. Pleumeur-Bodou is also known for its radome and telecommunications station, a striking juxtaposition between modern space and this standing stone on the cusp of history. Far from being incongruous, this coexistence is a reminder that Trégor has always been a land of exchange and innovation, from prehistoric times to the satellite era.
Architecture
The Pleumeur-Bodou menhir is made of granite, the dominant rock in the Armorican subsoil, characterised by its exceptional hardness and age-old resistance to erosion. Typical of the megaliths of the Trégor region, its shaft is carved or simply squared using Neolithic lithic techniques: extraction by wedges of wood driven into natural fissures in the rock, then transport by sledge and lever over short distances. The stone, set in a pit, rests on a system of embedment in the ground that has ensured its vertical stability for thousands of years. The general shape is that of an elongated monolith, tapering slightly towards the top, whose visible height can be estimated at between two and four metres - a common dimension for isolated menhirs in the Côtes-d'Armor department. The surface is rough and grainy, covered with a patina of crustaceous lichens that give it hues ranging from silver-grey to orange-red depending on its orientation and humidity. No visible inscriptions or engravings have been recorded on this menhir, unlike some neighbouring examples which bear cupules or symbolic motifs. The monument's integration into the landscape is remarkable: planted on slightly open ground, it originally enjoyed extensive visibility from Neolithic traffic routes. Its orientation and relationship to the horizon are still open to study by archaeologists specialising in archaeoastronomy.
Related Figures
Les bâtisseurs néolithiques du Trégor (4500-2500 av. J.-C.) — communautés agropastorales anonymes, érigeurs des mégalithes armoricainsPaul du Châtellier (1833-1911) — archéologue breton pionnier, inventorieur des mégalithes finistériens et costarmoricains au XIXe siècleZacharie Le Rouzic (1864-1939) — archéologue de Carnac, dont les travaux sur les menhirs bretons ont posé les bases de la compréhension régionale des monumentsAndré Malraux — ministre des Affaires culturelles sous la Ve République, dont la politique patrimoniale aboutit à l'inscription de nombreux mégalithes bretons, dont celui-ci en 1964
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Menhir located?
Menhir is located in Pleumeur-Bodou, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Menhir open to visitors?
Menhir is currently closed to visitors.