The megaliths of Carnac, the first Breton site to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Their inscription was confirmed on Saturday afternoon during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee, which met until Sunday in Paris, at UNESCO headquarters.

Built over more than two millennia during the Neolithic period, they extend over an area of 1.000 km2 with more than 550 monuments spread across 28 communes in Morbihan.

Among them are the Carnac alignments, with its long, straight avenues of menhirs ("long stone" in Breton) of all sizes, whose origin and function remain a mystery and which attract nearly 300.000 visitors each year.

"For the Breton in me, this moment marks a historic milestone for our cultural heritage," declared the mayor of Carnac, Olivier Lepick, present at UNESCO.

Megaliths "represent much more than just stones. They embody the collective memory of humanity, the creative genius of our ancestors, and the unbreakable bond that unites us through the ages," he continued, recalling that "these pebbles, as they are affectionately called in Brittany," are located on accessible sites.

These megaliths "constitute an exceptional testimony to the technical sophistication and skill of Neolithic communities which enabled them to extract, transport and manipulate monumental stones and earth to create a complex symbolic space which reveals a specific relationship between populations and their environment," explains UNESCO.

For the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN), which manages sites in France included on the World Heritage List, "the antiquity of the sites, the quantity of monuments, the diversity of the structures represented, some of which are found nowhere else (large rows of standing stones), the monumentality of the three exceptional tumuli (Mané er Hroeck, Mont-Saint-Michel and Tumiac), the singularity and abundance of the engravings found (at Gavrinis for example) (...) make it a truly unique ensemble in the world."

"Universal value"

The announcement was celebrated to the sound of the bagad, a typically Breton musical ensemble, with the Bagad Arvorizion Karnag coming especially for the occasion to the UNESCO headquarters, in the presence of the French delegation and a Breton flag.

"This gives universal value to this Breton property," Anne Gallo Kerleau, vice-president of heritage for the Brittany region, told AFP, and "this spotlight (...) will benefit the entire Breton territory" as well as other megalithic sites, she hoped.

In Carnac, shopkeepers hope this listing will bring in new tourists, without fearing overtourism. "Carnac's businesses survive thanks to this population," said Isabelle Servais, a bookseller at P'tit monde de Zabelle.

"If there's no space for parking (...) it'll be blocked anyway," said Caroline Poisson, manager of the La Dame de Caro brasserie.

It is the first entirely Breton site to be listed as a World Heritage Site, the Vauban Tower in Finistère being one of the 12 Vauban fortifications listed throughout France.

"This recognition (...) demonstrates France's commitment to preserving heritage," reacted the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, in a press release.

Former minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, honorary president of the Paysages de mégalithes association and former president of the Brittany region, praised in a press release "the remarkable, persevering and collective work carried out for more than ten years" by communities, scientists, government departments and associations, believing that this recognition is also that of a "civilization" in a region with a strong identity.

France now has 54 World Heritage sites, Spain and China have 60, and Germany 55, with "concrete, lasting benefits for the promotion of our territories, in terms of international renown and jobs in the cultural and tourism sectors," the Quai d'Orsay said in a press release.