Euroguides - essential for visitors and travellers to Europe - France - Bretagne - Morbihan

Locmariaquer (Breton: Lokmaria-Kaer) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.
From the Breton loc which means hermitage, Maria and kaer which means nice, or more likely, from the Old Breton caer (Modern Breton, ker) which means fortified place,city.

The municipality of Locmariaquer is located at the western tip of the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany and has many beaches facing the Atlantic Ocean and the bay Quiberon.

This small town contains the Locmariaquer megaliths, some of the most significant neolithic remains in Europe, including the Broken Menhir of Er Grah, the largest known single block of stone to have been transported and erected by Neolithic man. It is beside the Table des Marchands, a famous dolmen with notable carvings.

In the nineteenth century it became the home of the popular Catholic writer Zénaïde Fleuriot, who idealised it in her novels.
A large statue of the madonna and child was built at Pointe de Kerperhir to commemorate a miracle in which the Madonna is supposed to have warned sailors of a forthcoming storm by appearing at the spot. The statue was destroyed in World War II, but replaced by a new work by Jules-Charles Le Bozec after the war.

In more recent times the town has become one of the most important oyster fisheries in France. It is especially famous for its giant Belon oysters.