Carnac

The 2025 WHC will probably bring us the inscription of number 31 on our Missing List: Carnac. Carnac is on the T List as ‘Megalithic Sites of Carnac’, but the nomination has been renamed ‘Carnac and Shores of the Morbihan megaliths’. It has been put forward as a Cultural landscape and comprises four components with thousands of standing stones and tombs. 

Carnac is a representative of the European megalithic tradition since the Neolithic, which also includes the Megalithic Temples of Malta and multiple sites in the UK and Ireland, such as Stonehenge and Brú na Bóinne. While at other subjects we’ve now ended up at very niche Tier 3 sites, Carnac undoubtedly is at Tier 1 among its peers. The nominated area covers 19,598 ha, about 4x as large as Stonehenge/Avebury and 6x the sites in Malta. Its oldest parts significantly predate Stonehenge and overlap with the earliest timelines of Newgrange and Ħaġar Qim.

I started my visit at the Carnac Alignments component. Winter is a good time to visit as you’re allowed on the trail amidst the stones by yourself and there will be much less visitors overall. Entrance to the Alignments is also free from October-March. I was lucky with the weather in early March: sunny, blue skies. I parked at the Ménec alignments and then continued on foot. Nothing can prepare you for the first sight of the endless rows of neatly arranged standing stones. I walked most of the ‘Alignments trail’ that connects Ménec …

For those who have been privy to participate in one of our meetups or are members of our whatsapp group, the term "Rock art" is synonymous with our dear community member Samuel. I always wondered where his infatuation with rock art came from. For me (and I would argue this is a majority opinion) rock art is rarely if ever endearing. Mostly, rock art shows how much mankind has evolved and how humble our beginnings were.

Well, if I had grown up at one of the truly great rock art sites, I may have a different opinion. Samuel is from Bretagne in the vicinity of Carnac. He must have spent quite a few school trips in the stone fields around Carnac studying the standing stones (menhirs). And it's hard not to fall in love with the place when you do.

In the morning, I had come from Nantes. After a short, unmemorable stop at the museum in Carnac, I set out to hike around the site. I must have misread the scale on the map they had given me, as what was intended to be a one, maybe two hour hike turned into a lengthy hike into the countryside. But with all the great fields of menhirs, it was hard to say stop, so I continued.

The most amazing part to me was just how huge the place is. Even a single field would warrant inscription and it's field upon field upon field... Amazing!

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To me, Carnac is the most important “missing WHS” for France. The site bears a unique testimony of the Neolithic period and possesses a tremendous variety of remains. It is definitely a must-see. The different museums in the area allow to better understand the site.

I visited this tentative WHS in July 2016. It definitely deserves inscription as it is one of the best worldwide examples of menhirs, dolmens, tumuli, alignments and megalithic engravings in a relatively compact area. From June to August this site is certainly not off the beaten track and busloads of people visit every day. Due to the fact that most visit during this period, the main alignment fences are closed and one can only enter with a guided visit organised by the Maison des Megalithes (open 10:00 to 19:00) costing 6 euros. If you read up and prepare beforehand or simply if you miss the tour in English, I would suggest visiting before the crowds arrive at 10am and entering the minor free access sites. The surrounding fences are very low and do not obstruct the view of the alignments. I arrived by car at the Maison des Megalithes at around 9am and parked my car for free at the empty parking lot. I had previously downloaded the very good commentary from http://www.brittanytourism.com/discover-our-destinations/southern-brittany-morbihan-gulf/unmissable-sites/carnac and before arriving I bought some food to have breakfast while visiting the alignments. Firstly off I went and walked round the Menec alignments just opposite the parking lot. There are more than 1000 monoliths here, neatly aligned, and incredibly still coexist with a few houses which are inside the fenced off area! The largest monolith here is around 3.5 metres high and is believed to predate the Menec alignments. There are some monoliths which are either …

The first time that I saw pictures of the Carnac stones was in a textbook at school and I was instantly fascinated by these enigmatic alignments. Many years later, when I came across the World Heritage list, I was surprised that Carnac was not included. It is on the French tentative list since 1996, but no efforts have been made to submit the site for final decision. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a recently launched website by the association Paysages de Mégalithes. The association aims to protect and promote the megalithic sites in Carnac and Southern Morbihan. The description on the website reads: "Site protection and promotion work is designed to lead to a project to promote all of the heritage in the 26 municipalities in Southern Morbihan included in the research programmes, followed by an application to be listed as Unesco World Heritage."

The website provides descriptions of about 30 of the more than 500 megalithic sites that are scattered across the region: dolmen, tumuli, menhirs, stone circles and alignments. But it is not mentioned which sites will be included in the final nomination, and also the sparse text of the T-list entry gives no detailed information. Probably it is not yet decided.

The Carnac alignments are undoubtedly the most spectacular megalithic sites in Morbihan. The complex consists of three groups of alignments: Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan (from west to east). In total, there are about 3000 standing stones at a length of …