Menhir from the Champ-Dolent
 
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The menhir from Champ-Dolent (French: Menhir du Champ-Dolent ) is, together with the roughly equal menhir from Kerloas, the largest standing megalithic stone monument in France from the Neolithic Age . The menhir has been recognized as a monument historique since 1889 .
location
The menhir stands surrounded by fields on a gentle hill about 32 m high about 2 km southeast of the town of Dol-de-Bretagne in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in the east of the Brittany region .
Legend
A popular legend reports that the stone fell from the sky and separated two opposing hostile armies on the Champ-Dolent ("Field of Sorrows"), the leaders of which were brothers. This indicates a god-sent and peace-making function of the stone, which is also reflected in the often formulated interpretation as the center of a formerly sacred and inviolable zone.
history
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the view prevailed that only the Romans would have been able to transport and erect such giant stones - many menhirs were consequently associated with Caesar and his legions. In the 19th century a cross was placed on its top. Only gradually did scientific research begin to assign menhirs, dolmens , rows of stones ( alignements ) and stone circles ( cromlechs ) to the Celts ( Druids ) and later to the Neolithic prehistory. According to an initial classification in the time around 2000 BC Most of the great menhirs are now used by scientific research in the period around 4000 BC. Dated.
description
The approx. 9.50 m high and approx. 150 t heavy granite stone , probably brought in from a distance of at least 4 km by means of tree trunk rolls and levers, is smoothed on all sides by natural forces and probably also by human hands; the tip is rounded. At the base its circumference is about 7 m; At a height of approx. 2.50 m, it is significantly larger at approx. 8.70 m. The stone tapers more and more towards the top; At its base is a kind of wedge stone made of basaltic dolerite , which was formerly interpreted as a sacrificial stone.
Others
The French novelist Stendhal visited Brittany in 1837 and also saw the Menhir du Champ-Dolent. In the second volume of his travel report Mémoires d'un touriste , the encounter with the stone in the company of a local guide is described in detail.
See also
literature
- Jacques Briard : The Megaliths of Brittany. Éditions Gisserot 2000, ISBN 2-87747-065-2 , p. 32.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Menhir du Champ-Dolent, Dol-de-Bretagne in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhir du Champ-Dolent, Dol-de-Bretagne in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhir from Champ Dolent - map with altitude information
- ↑ Henri-Georges Gaignard: Visages de Rance . Fernand Lanore, 1983, p. 106.
Coordinates: 48 ° 32'7 " N , 1 ° 44'21.6" W.