“We are entering the final sprint” which consists of “the development of the management plan” in order to “prove to Unesco that we are capable of managing and showcasing these monuments”, declared Olivier Lepick, mayor ( various right) of Carnac and president of the association "Landscapes of Megaliths", which carries the registration project.
The Unesco study area extends over 27 municipalities and has 540 sites, from the Ria d'Etel to the Rhuys peninsula, according to a press release.
The 27 mayors of the perimeter met Friday morning in Vannes for the "symbolic kick-off" of the management plan.
Over the next 18 months, the project will be presented in the municipalities of the four areas in the framework of public meetings and workshops.
This plan must be completed at the end of 2023 for a deposit at UNESCO in 2024 and a World Heritage listing in 2025 or 2026, "if the geopolitical news does not disturb the UNESCO calendar", said Mr. Lepick. .
The UNESCO World Heritage listing file had been initiated "in the late 1980s" then had "stayed in limbo for years" before being relaunched in 2012 with the creation of the "Landscapes" association. of Megaliths", according to the mayor.
The association has set up an international scientific council to support it in drafting the application file, chaired by paleoanthropologist Yves Coppens.
"The scientific quality of the file is indisputable. It is the first example of monumental architecture of Humanity", underlined Mr. Lepick.
"From a heritage and scientific point of view, there is no discussion that these monuments should be classified as World Heritage."
Aerial view of the megalithic site of Carnac in August 2019 Damien MEYER AFP/Archives
Inscribed on the indicative list of Unesco since 1996 with a view to a candidacy for world heritage, the alignments of Carnac are one of the high places of megalithism in the world, with some 3,000 menhirs stretching over nearly four kilometres, 6,000 years old.
© 2022 AFP