Throughout time

Marker 9For millennia, the menhirs stayed put – adored or ignored, sometimes re-used – despite the wear and tear of time. During Christianisation in the early Middle Ages, they became too troublesome. Menhirs were thus laid flat and a few had crosses erected on them so as to conquer pagan cults. More recently, some monuments have been moved to allow plots of land to be cultivated, and many others have been divided up and used as construction materials. After considerable work making an inventory of the menhirs, over 200 are now known and protected, of which 70 have been put upright again. Here, however, there are signs that vandalism and ignorance can still strike.