Cairn of Barnenez

A 40-minute away from Pleumeur-Bodou by car, Plouzeoc’h in northern Finistère hosts the largest megalithic mausoleum in Europe: the Cairn of Barnenez.

This monument contains several burials, some of which are vaulted and constitute the oldest vaults known in the world (2000 years before the pyramids of Egypt)!

A cairn is a stone construction built by Neolithic communities, covering one or more gallery graves.

The monument dominates the Bay of Morlaix, signaling the existence and power of the community that lived there, several millennia ago; the site, forgotten and degraded in modern times, was saved from demolition by its classification as a historical monument. The monument, which has become the property of the French State, has been restored but continues to be the subject of exciting archaeological studies, the recent discoveries of which have involved the presence of "paintings" on the walls of the internal passageways.

The Grand Carin of Barnenez is open every day except during public holidays.

In Pleumeur-Bodou, and around, several other megalithic monuments are visible, and in particular the "gallery graves":

  • Ile-Grande, in the center of the island;
  • from Prajou-Menhir, in Trébeurden, on the left before the Île-Grande bridge;
  • Kerianegan - Kerguntuil, in Tregastel (two covered walkways);
  • Milliau Island, in Trébeurden (island accessible at low tide only);
  • and many ruins of dismantled monuments, all over the territory of the Pink granite Coast.

For more info on the megaliths of the Pink Granite Coast:

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