Photo : Thérèse Gaigé / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Rochers Scuptés de Rothéneuf
The sculpted rocks of Rothéneuf are at the seaside, at Rothéneuf, about ten kilometres east of the centre of Saint-Malo, in Ille-et-Vilaine. They are the work of Abbé Adolphe Fouré, a priest retired to Rothéneuf and gone deaf, who, from 1894 to about 1907, carved several hundred characters and figures in the coastal granite.
You recognise characters linked to the news of the time, figures from Breton legends and local saints. According to local tradition, the whole is said to represent a family of privateers punished by the sea, but historians remain cautious about this interpretation. The grimacing figures evoke medieval gargoyles.
The original colours have disappeared and tides, erosion and visitors weaken the ensemble. An association created in 2010 works for its restoration. The site is private and the visit is paid; it takes about thirty to forty-five minutes.
