• In Carhaix, the installation of the first menhir of the StoneBreizh project was marked by the breaking of a chain causing the injury of four people.

  • The project leaders opted for a mechanical lift to install the menhir weighing nearly 30 tons.

  • This first stone will be followed by 36 other granite blocks respecting a perfect alignment.

It was a highly anticipated moment for the project leaders.

A very prepared moment too but which did not prevent the accident.

Sunday, four people were injured by the breaking of a chain used to pull a menhir of nearly 30 tons in Carhaix (Finistère).

A halt to what was to be a popular event marking the birth of the StoneBreizh project.

Inspired by the English Stonehenge, this monolithic complex aims to become one of the largest in France with the lifting of 32 blocks of granite on the heights of a hill in Carhaix.

Did the fall of the first stone slow down the project?

“Never”, answer its defenders.

After the failure of the manual lift on Sunday, StoneBreizh representatives spent time with the four injured and are still analyzing what may have happened.

“We had new ropes, new pulleys.

All the checks had been made, ”promises Edouard Le Scanff.

The technical director of the project believes that the breakage of a hoist probably occurred "due to a craze".

“People came to pull on the ropes when there was a stop.

We should have taken a break, ”he admits.

After this failure of a lifting by force of arms, the organizers called in a crane which lifted the stone 8.32 meters high without difficulty on Tuesday evening.

A first stone laid which should call for others, since 32 blocks of granite should be erected gradually on the Penn Ar Roz site.

"The incident will not prevent us from continuing with a manual method at least once a year", promises Edouard Le Scanff.

Menhirs, schist and 1,415 Breton trees

With Philippe Abjean and the seven other members of the board of directors, they had opted for regular manual lifting in order to reconnect with the ancestral Celtic traditions that some wanted to bury.

“When I started school at 6 years old, I didn't speak a word of French and we were forced to stop speaking Breton.

We were dispossessed of our culture, as if we were foreigners in our own country,” recalls Edouard Le Scanff.

The next stone should be lifted in a year on the site.

The block of granite several meters high is not the easiest thing to find, even in Brittany.

The rhythm of installation of the stones should be imposed by the ability of the association to finance them.

"We depend on patronage", recall the project leaders.

Thirty-six blue schist stelae will encircle the 36 granite blocks.

A third circle of 1,415 emblematic trees of Brittany will come to symbolize the 1,415 municipalities of the five departments of the region.

Oriented to be illuminated by sunrise and sunset, the future StoneBreizh will reveal its most beautiful assets at the winter and summer solstices.

Four people injured during the lifting of a menhir in Carhaix

Five Gallic stelae dating from the Iron Age have disappeared in Finistère

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  • Carhaix

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