Some 500 kilometres west of Paris, on Brittany’s Atlantic coast, stand the mysterious prehistoric stone alignments of Morbihan – now on Unesco's World Heritage list. RFI went to see why the ancient site still casts a spell on visitors.
The best known structures are in the town of Carnac, where nearly 3,600 stones stretch in long rows across six kilometres of land. They were erected about 7,000 years ago.
Carnac’s mayor Olivier Lepick called them "the first experience of human-built structures". He says the Unesco label will help protect the site and attract more visitors.
Tourists already come in summer for the beaches, but Lepick expects the recognition to bring people year-round.
"They will also come in the spring and autumn seasons which will be very good for the business and the economy of the city," he says.
Inside France's perfectly preserved prehistoric Cussac cave
Mysterious function
Experts are still unsure why the vast fields of stone were built. "We don't see any understandable function," Lepick says.
"We believe this is related to religion, probably to gods. But there were no writings at this time. So, it's only a hypothesis."
The Carnac site is the first in Brittany to be fully inscribed on the World Heritage list. The Vauban Tower in Finistère already appears, but only as part of a wider group of 12 fortifications across France.
France now counts 54 sites on the Unesco list. Spain and China each have 60, and Germany has 55.
