La Brière
La Brière , or La grande Brière (7,000 hectares) is one of the largest swamp and lagoon landscapes in France , comparable to the Spreewald in Germany. It is located in the Loire-Atlantique department , near the port city of Saint-Nazaire . The associated Regional Nature Park Brière ( French Parc naturel régional de Brière ) covers a total of 49,000 hectares. It is a labyrinth of water and islands and the second largest nature park in the country after the Camargue .
The swampy basin landscape was created by earth movements in the Tertiary , during which the deep rock sank. For millions of years the sea has flooded the basin and deposited sediments. About 11 million years ago it was separated from the sea by the formation of a sea threshold. Originally, a sea golf expanded here, into which the rivers Vilaine and Loire flowed. Alluvial material filled the gulf and transformed it into that moor landscape from which today only 27 rocky islands protrude, with hamlets scattered on their crests. The Charte de la Briere, which is still valid today, has existed since the 16th century, according to which the 6000 hectares of land are the undivided property of the municipalities, but today this right of ownership has lost its importance, because the residents can no longer fish, hunt, reed and Wicker or peat cutting live and are forced to earn their living in St Nazaire.
The natural landscape has been transformed by human interventions such as canalization, fishing, reed cutting, grazing and hay extraction. A heather landscape has arisen around the marshland, which turns into marsh meadows, which are inundated during floods. This landscape is especially developed for tourism through guided boat tours. Saint-Lyphard is the entrance to the nature park . As a backdrop for French feature films , the Brière also made a stronger international presence. For example, in Léon Poirier's 1925 film adaptation of Alphonse de Châteaubriant's 1923 novel La Brière .
See also
Web links
- Brière Regional Nature Park (French) (last accessed December 17, 2012)