Monument aux Bretons de la France libre, dit Croix de Penhir

English translation

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History

The Penhir cross is a commemorative monument intended to bear witness to the existence of groups of Free French Bretons who founded Sao Breiz in Great Britain during the last war, answering the call of General de Gaulle. Commissioned by the Association of Free French, the monument was erected on land given by the commune of Camaret-sur-Mer, near the sea, to recall that it was by this route that many Bretons reached England during the war. Its construction, which was entrusted to architect Jean-Baptiste Mathon (principal author of the reconstruction of Brest) and sculptor Victor-François Bazin, lasted from 1949 to 1951. The monument was inaugurated on 15 July of that year by General de Gaulle. In this type of architecture as elsewhere, one finds the struggle between regionalism and modernism. The Penhir cross wishes to be resolutely modern: the massive and stark architecture, in the shape of a Lorraine cross, conceived by Mathon, is reinforced by the quasi-cubism of Bazin's sculpture. Two elements nevertheless recall the regional identity of the monument: the material, and the language of part of the inscriptions, written in Breton.