3-034-617 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Antiquities of Carnac, in Brittany: the lines of Carnac, from Maenac, looking east, 1871. Ancient site in northern France. 'The Druidic remains, as they are considered to be,...have long excited the wonder of tourists, and have often employed the ingenuity of scholars and antiquaries in guessing their original design...From Carnac westward to St. Barbe, and thence to Erdevan, in a north-westerly direction, the lines of granite blocks dotting the ground may be traced, with some intervals, a length of eight miles; and some observers find traces of their continuation farther north-west to Belz, making a length of twelve miles altogether...It is usually supposed that the stones of Carnac formed a portion of a vast temple, or series of temples, devoted to some heathen worship...The group of Maenac is, perhaps, the most completely defined of three groups at Carnac, which cover a space of about three miles. In the Maenac group, eleven rows of stones can be distinctly traced, forming ten avenues between them. There is a space of half a mile between the several groups, at the termination of the lines of stones; but the lines of one group point in the direction of the next group, indicating some relation to each other'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.