The megaliths of Carnac and the shores of the Morbihan listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

In order to protect these ancestral monuments and promote this exceptional heritage, the towns are pooling their resources to have the megaliths of southern Morbihan listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Paysages de Mégalithes association was set up in 2013 to work on the UNESCO World Heritage project.

The UNESCO application for the megaliths of Carnac and the shores of the Morbihan brings together 27 communes, the Morbihan Departmental Council, two Établissements Publics de Coopération Intercommunale (EPCI), the Morbihan Department, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN), the Conservatoire du Littoral, the Brittany Region, numerous associations and associated communes, notably Vannes and Auray.

The Carnac region and the shores of the Morbihan are not the only places in Brittany, or even in France, where megalithic monuments can be seen.

However, the age of the sites, the sheer number of monuments, the diversity of structures represented, some of which are found nowhere else (bent dolmen), the monumentality of the three exceptional tumuli (Mané er Hroeck, Mont-Saint-Michel and Tumiac), the singularity and abundance of engravings found (at Gavrinis, for example), the archaeological wealth of the objects found on the sites... make this a truly unique site in the world.

These different elements combined to create, thousands of years ago, a symbolic landscape focused on the coast.

Yves Coppens, a world-renowned scientist, one of the discoverers of Lucy, long considered to be the oldest australopithecine skeleton in the world, and a renowned palaeontologist who also loved the megaliths of Carnac, was the driving force behind the classification project until June 2022, when he passed away.

The association is now chaired by Olivier Lepick, Mayor of Carnac. The scientific committee is made up of eighteen French and European archaeologists specialising in megalithism.

The timetable for the UNESCO bid has been confirmed, with France submitting its application to the World Heritage Centre in January 2024. The international evaluation process was set up to run for eighteen months, until the summer of 2025.

July 12, 2025, a historic date !

All the partners in the region are proud to have contributed to this worldwide recognition through their day-to-day work in close proximity to the megaliths and their visitors.To find out more about the UNESCO listing, to discover which sites are concerned, or to receive information about the association, visit the website of :  Paysages de mégalithes. 

On 12 July, UNESCO announced that the megaliths of Carnac and the shores of the Morbihan had been added to the prestigious list of World Heritage Sites - a historic opportunity for our region, which is proud of its heritage and looking to the future.

Let's continue this collective effort! Let's preserve our heritage and continue to help visitors from all over the world discover some of the lesser-known megaliths.