There is a valley in France where colossal statues are erected, worthy of Easter Island.
Entering a green hill in the heart of the Breton countryside, gigantic statues are revealed in the open air, monumental and mysterious. Like a feeling of suddenly finding yourself on the other side of the earth, on Easter Island. Reaching between 4 and 7 meters in height, these sculptures, almost two hundred of them, do not represent enigmatic Moai statues here, but the Saints of Brittany.
Nestled in a small village, in Carnoët in Côtes-d’Armor, La Vallée des Saints brings together these inspiring and captivating sculptures. Saint-Malo, Saint-Samson, Saint-Brieuc, Saint-Tugdual, Sainte-Pol-Aurélien, Saint Corentin and Saint Partern were the first seven “menhir statues” erected on the site in 2009, portraits of the first evangelists of the Armorica. Since then, 15 new giants have been sculpted each year from a 25-ton block of raw Breton granite. Hermits, princes, abbots, monks… Each statue, in a different style, tells a legend or a story. Among the most imposing, the statues of Saint Conan and Saint Azenor, in blue granite from Lanhélin for one and in pink granite from La Clarté for the other, welcome visitors as soon as they enter the site.
This unique 8 hectare natural site is freely accessible every day of the year and 24 hours a day. It is located south of Guingamp and near Carhaix, it can be accessed by the D787. This crazy project aims to become the unique showcase of Breton granite, bringing together nearly 1,000 statues by 2080. Ultimately, this pharaonic project will constitute a global information and documentation center on the Breton High Middle Ages, offering musical, theatrical entertainment and historical reenactments. No doubt that this mystical site, like a large open-air history book, will attract heritage enthusiasts from around the world.
If you want to discover other hidden treasures in our beautiful France, the application Aroundus, which allowed us to unearth La Vallée de Saints, presents nearly 500 exceptional sites in France and overseas which go off the beaten track and invite regional adventure, lifting the veil on wonderful sites that are still too little known . The application, which lists a total of nearly 250,000 points of tourist interest using generative AI, can be downloaded from Google Play or the App Store.