relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme
MonumentHidden Treasure
relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme, located in Pleumeur-Bodou (Département 22), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Pleumeur-Bodou, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.7860, -3.5238
- Mérimée Reference
- PA22000011
A white colossus standing 64 metres tall, the Pleumeur-Bodou Radome changed the history of telecommunications on 11 July 1962 when it picked up the first transatlantic satellite signal. A breathtaking twentieth-century monument.
History
Lying on the Breton moors like a sphere from another dimension, the Radôme de Pleumeur-Bodou is one of France's most unusual monuments. It's not a castle, cathedral or palace: it's a giant inflatable envelope 64 metres in diameter and 50 metres high, housing a 340-tonne parabolic antenna which, in 1962, enabled France to receive the first live television images transmitted from the United States by satellite. A thrill of the future that millions of viewers experienced live. What makes this monument absolutely unique is the confluence of pure engineering prowess and the emotional charge of a historic moment. The Radôme is not just a technical structure: it is the tangible symbol of a communications revolution, the precise point at which humanity crossed a technological threshold that has no return. Classified as a Historic Monument in 2000, it is one of the very few twentieth-century buildings to have been awarded this distinction for an entirely industrial and scientific piece of architecture. The visiting experience begins long before you enter: the immaculate silhouette of the dome emerges from the vegetation of the Costarmorican moor with striking visual power, evoking both a lunar base and an extraterrestrial installation. Inside, the sheer size of the horn and reflector antenna, suspended in the protected space of the flexible envelope, leaves you speechless. The site is also home to the Cité des Télécoms and the Planétarium de Bretagne, making it a leading cultural and scientific centre for families, history buffs and technology enthusiasts. The natural setting amplifies the poetic strangeness of the place. The Cragou moor, with its heather and gorse, contrasts magnificently with the whiteness of the sphere, while the often-changing skies of the northern coast of the Côtes-d'Armor provide photographers with light of rare intensity. A few kilometres away, the megaliths of the Lannion peninsula are a reminder that this area has always been a place of signs sent towards the cosmos.
Architecture
The Radôme is a work of engineering as well as an architectural form without precedent in French heritage. Its construction principle is based on an inflatable spherical envelope made of synthetic material - initially Hypalon, a UV- and weather-resistant elastomer - maintained at a slight internal overpressure in relation to the outside atmosphere. This principle, inspired by American research into pneumatic structures, produces a perfectly smooth surface that is impervious to the wind, while remaining translucent to the radio waves needed for communications. With a diameter of 64 metres and a height of 50 metres, it was one of the largest structures of its kind ever built in Europe at the time. Inside, the horn and reflector antenna forms the heart of the system. Its 340-tonne mass is based on a three-axis orientation system - azimuth, elevation, polarisation - enabling a satellite to be pointed and tracked with remarkable precision. The metal structure of the antenna, with a span of several dozen metres, is made of high-strength, corrosion-resistant steel. The mechanical assembly that ensures its rotation, comprising gearboxes, electric motors and servo systems, is in itself a masterpiece of 1960s precision engineering. Externally, the contrast between the immaculate white, perfectly geometric sphere and the natural landscape of the Breton moor gives the monument an extraordinary visual presence. Its perfectly spherical shape, devoid of ornament or superfluous detail, anticipates the minimalist aesthetic that would dominate the architecture of the following decades. The Radôme is a scientific instrument, a structural feat and a sculptural object of absolute formal purity.
Related Figures
John F. Kennedy — président américain dont le message télévisé fut l'un des premiers transmis via Telstar le 11 juillet 1962Eugène Yourke — ingénieur en chef du CNET ayant supervisé l'installation de l'antenne de Pleumeur-BodouJohn R. Pierce — ingénieur en chef chez AT&T Bell Labs, père intellectuel du projet TelstarYves Cocherel — directeur technique de la station de Pleumeur-Bodou lors des premières transmissionsPierre Marzin — directeur général du CNET, artisan de l'engagement français dans le programme de télécommunications par satellite
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme located?
relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme is located in Pleumeur-Bodou, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme built?
relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme open to visitors?
relais de télécommunication dit Le Radôme is currently closed to visitors.
