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2025 WHC: Carnac
The 2025 WHC will probably bring us the inscription of number 31 on our Missing List: Carnac. Two other 2025 nominations, Neuschwanstein Castle and the Minoan Palaces, are even higher on that list, so it might become a good year. Carnac is on the Tentative List as ‘Megalithic Sites of Carnac’, but the nomination has been renamed ‘Carnac and Shores of the Morbihan megaliths’. It has been put forward as a Cultural landscape and comprises four components with thousands of standing stones and tombs. The TWHS has a 100% recommendation after 24 votes from our community.
Carnac is a representative of the European megalithic tradition since the Neolithic, which also includes the Megalithic Temples of Malta and multiple sites in the UK and Ireland, such as Stonehenge and Brú na Bóinne. While at other subjects we’ve now ended up at very niche Tier 3 sites, Carnac undoubtedly is at Tier 1 among its peers. The nominated area covers 19,598 ha, about 4x as large as Stonehenge/Avebury and 6x the sites in Malta. Its oldest parts significantly predate Stonehenge and overlap with the earliest timelines of Newgrange and Ħaġar Qim.
What took France so long to put this forward? Breton nationalists may claim it was subordination by “Paris”, but it just has been a long and careful process which has been described on the official nomination website. The story already starts in 1980, when Carnac was part of France’s first Tentative List (we had overlooked that; I’ve now updated the Site History accordingly). It stayed there until a revised list was submitted in 1984. It reappeared in 1996.
Along the way, things evolved:
- Although the sites have been popular tourist and scientific destinations since the 19th century, it took until the 1990s for them to be properly managed and protected. The Table des Marchands (a major dolmen at Locmariaquer) was only excavated and restored in the early 1990s for example.
- The scope changed from Carnac Alignments only in 1980 to multiple megalithic locations in the Morbihan area in the current proposal.
- In 2005, major excavations brought to light connections between the elements.
- In 2011, an Association was created to streamline the nomination process.
- Thanks to its size, many actors are involved so it is a slow process to keep them all on board. Some opposition from landowners has been reported in the past.
I started my visit at the Carnac Alignments component. Winter is a good time to visit as you’re allowed on the trail amidst the stones by yourself and there will be much less visitors overall. Entrance to the Alignments is also free from October-March. I was lucky with the weather in early March: sunny, blue skies. I parked at the Ménec alignments and then continued on foot. Nothing can prepare you for the first sight of the endless rows of neatly arranged standing stones. I walked most of the ‘Alignments trail’ that connects Ménec with the other Alignments. You can also go by car as all have (smallish) car parks.
The best part I found at the start of Kermario Alignment: it’s here that the standing stones get taller, a complete dolmen can be found (Photo 2) and you get the iconic views of the rolling hills covered with rows of stones. Unfortunately, late afternoon isn’t the best time of day for pictures from the viewing tower at the opposite end as it faces the sun. I also think that on-site interpretation could be more informative, although I understand that not much is known about the idea behind the Alignments. Here and there you still see markers left by people who oppose the fencing of the whole area.
Two days later, I went to the Locmariaquer component. As the crow flies, it lies only 8 km from the Alignments, though it is a bit further by road. The main part here is a cluster of three major monuments. A 7 EUR fee has to be paid to enter, but they let you watch a good video that provides a bit more context. The individual monuments (a 140m long tumulus, a dolmen and the grand fallen menhir) have information panels as well. The ruins of the Grand Menhir (Photo 3) – fallen and broken, possibly due to an earthquake - are the most impressive. Parts have been reused as spolia in the dolmen at the site, they have some simple carvings as well (plus a bit of historical graffiti, I think I read "Gazelle"?).
Els - 23 March 2025
Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
Caspar Dechmann Switzerland - 13-Mar-25
This may well be the most underrated site in Germany if you look at the ratings on this website and indeed, it is a site that reveals its extraordinary value and charm perhaps only when you dive deeper in its history and ideas. Another reason may be that some of our members wrote reviews without having seen more than one component and not even the most important ones, in which case you wonder how a rating could make any sense.
The central figure here is Prince Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau who famously introduced landscape gardening into continental [...]
Read OnCentral Park (T)
Andrew_Kerr UK - 08-Mar-25
Across the River Mersey from Liverpool is the unassuming town of Birkenhead. What has this got to do with Central Park? You may be thinking, well, quite a lot actually.When Connecticut farmer, Frederick Law Olmsted, had his plan for Central Park accepted it was the world's first publicly funded park in Birkenhead that was his inspiration. I only mention it because most people are unaware of it.Begun in 1858, Central Park was an immediate success. Taking 15 years to complete at a cost of $14 million it incorporated 36 bridges or arches, 11 overpasses, a lake and over half a million trees and shrubs.Today the park is the green heart of Manhattan and offers an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city
Read OnTallinn
S. Anril Tiatco Philippines - 08-Mar-25
Tallinn Old Town is cited as “among the most remote and powerful outposts of the colonizing activities of the Hanseatic League in the north-eastern part of Europe in the 13th-16th centuries, provided a crucible within which an international secular-ecclesiastical culture resulting from the interchange of Cistercians, Dominicans, the Teutonic Order and the traditions of the Hanseatic League, formed and was itself exported throughout northern Europe” and as a Medieval City that constitutes “a remarkable reflection of the coexistence of the seat of feudal overlords and a Hanseatic trading centre within the shelter of a common system of walls and fortifications
Read OnEnclos paroissiaux du Finistère (T)
Els Slots The Netherlands - 12-Mar-25
Brittany was the only region in mainland France where I had not been before, but the upcoming nomination of Carnac gave me a good reason to go. Helped by a cheap and direct flight from Djerba to Nantes, I combined it into a great Tunisian-French midweek trip comprising 1 new WHS and 2 strong TWHS.
I can’t say that Brittany felt much different from Northern France in general, although the bilingual signage gives it an exotic twist.
On my second day there, I drove to the department of Finistère (one of the four Breton departments) as that is where these “Parish closes” can be found (“Enclos paroissiaux” doesn’t translate well into English). The amount of driving here should not be underestimated: Brittany is about the size of Belgium and Luxembourg combined. I was a bit hindered by the limited mileage of my rental car – some fine print that I had overlooked when booking (500km across 2 days is not enough)
Read OnThe Television Tower Stuttgart (T)
CugelVance Germany - 12-Mar-25
Visit: march the 12th,2025
I had already been up on the top of Stuttgart's tv tower some 21-22 years ago but by pure accident I found myself again in Stuttgart where I had to kill two hours.I decided to revisit Germany's tentative whs again.
The TV tower in Stuttgart was the first of its kind in the world and triggered a kind of worldwide chain reaction in the tower construction.
Today there are countless tv towers all over our planet.The Stuttgart pioneer is considered an architectural and aesthetic masterpiece by many experts with its timeless design.It was opened in feb.1956 after 20 months of construction.The total height from the ground to the top of the antenna is 216 meters.As a groundbreaking structure, the TV tower served as a model and prototype for TV towers around the world. Even the world's tallest TV tower, the Tokyo Skytree, is considered an offshoot of the Stuttgart original, and experts consider the Stuttgart TV tower to be the most beautiful and safest in the world. Due to its innovative public use ( a cafe inside a tv tower for example) , it has been imitated architecturally and stylistically in many places around the world
Read On